It will come as no shock that the Head of Content at Netflix isn’t a fan of how studios release films in theaters for months before a home release. But perhaps it’s the argument that Netflix’s Ted Sarandos gives that could convince you that the future isn’t in long waits between theatrical release and Blu-ray. Instead, he believes that the strategy that the streaming service has recently introduced with films like “Roma” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is the true future of filmgoing.
At the heart of it, Sarandos, speaking at the UBS Global Media and Communication Conference in New York (via Deadline), believes that releasing a film in theaters, then forcing audiences to wait months before they can see it at home isn’t “consumer-friendly.” “They’ve disconnected people from movies in a way. I don’t think it’s very consumer-friendly that consumers who don’t happen to live near a theater are waiting six months, eight months to see a movie,” Sarandos said of the current studio theatrical release model.
He continued, “I don’t disagree that going to the theater to see a movie is a great experience. I don’t think emotionally it’s a different experience than seeing a movie on Netflix. It is a different physical experience for sure.”
And that’s the crux of the argument that Netflix is attempting to put forth to film fans and the industry at large. There’s the idea that you can’t replicate the theatrical experience at home, which Netflix says isn’t true. So, the streaming service is doing everything in its power to change the industry, which includes enticing some of the biggest names in the film industry to work with them. But even that becomes a bit of a hard sell.
You see, some filmmakers today say that for a film to be considered a true feature film, it should be released in the cinema. However, according to the Netflix exec, the reason behind this sentiment has little to do with the technology, screen size, or theater experience. Instead, he thinks it’s more of a cultural issue.
Sarandos said, “I think that’s a way of saying, ‘I want my film to be in the culture. I want people to talk about my movie in line at Starbucks.’”
To counter that claim, the exec says that if you want to be part of the conversation, then Netflix is the only place you should look. He cites the performance of its rom-coms over the summer, which included the massive hit “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
“Eighty million people watched one or more of those films [during the summer],” Sarandos said. “Being able to offer this collective audience and being able tap into that in a big way, at scale, is what differentiates us.”
Clearly, Netflix still has some work ahead of it to convince everyone that the streaming service’s release strategy is the wave of the future. But as of now, Sarandos and company do have some compelling arguments.