Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has claimed that the streamer is “saving Hollywood,” and believes theatergoing is “an outmoded idea for most people.”
At the Time100 Summit this week, Sarandos was adamant that, despite production leaving Los Angeles in droves, the drastic downsizing of the theatrical window, the rapid deterioration of the theatrical experience from an audience perspective, and middling box office returns for a number of films, Netflix is the white night of the industry. “No, we’re saving Hollywood,” he explained to the audience at the convention, adding that the streamer is “a very consumer-focused company.”
He added: “We deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it.”
Sarandos also commented on the downturn of box office sales. “What is the consumer trying to tell us?” he asked rhetorically. “That they’d like to watch movies at home.” Interestingly enough, he also made sure to showcase his love for going to the theater, but not without also downplaying the experience on the whole. “I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people,” he said. “Not for everybody.”
It should come as no surprise that the CEO of the streaming service to end all streaming services would hold these kinds of opinions. After all, it’s in the company’s best interest to push streaming above cinemagoing.
Hollywood’s struggles are well-documented. Family movies like Inside Out 2 and video game adaptations like A Minecraft Movie appear to be propping up the business, with even Marvel movies, once guarateed billion dollar blockbusters, now hit and miss.
But is going to the cinema now old-fashioned? Last year, legendary actor Willem Dafoe said people watch films differently now, at home, rather than at the cinemas, which are closing down. “Which is tragic, because the kind of attention that people give at home isn’t the same,” Dafoe said.
“More difficult movies, more challenging movies can not do as well, when you don’t have an audience that’s really paying attention. That’s a big thing. I miss the social thing of where movies fit in the world. You go see a movie, you go out to dinner, you talk about it later, and that spreads out. People now go home, they say, ‘Hey, honey, let’s watch something stupid tonight,’ and they flip through and they watch five minutes of 10 movies, and they say, forget it, let’s go to bed. Where’s that discourse found?”
Back in 2022, acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh shared his thoughts on the future of movie theaters and how cinema habits could continue to live on in the age of streaming. He said that while there’s “still an appeal,” the industry’s future lies in convincing young audiences to keep attending as they grow older.
Soderbergh, who is known for his Ocean’s Eleven series amongst many other Hollywood hits, considered how movie theaters and streaming services can continue to coexist. He identified programming and engagement as two key areas that need careful consideration in order to keep the cinema-going experience alive.
“I think people still want to go out,” Soderbergh said, acknowledging the reasons behind taking a trip to the box office. “There’s still an appeal to seeing a movie in a movie theater. It’s still a great destination. And it really depends, I think, on our ability to attract, to convince the older audiences to continue to come out […] It has nothing to do with windowing [the term for the amount of time left between theater and home releases].”
Photo by Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
