Netflix Won’t Go All-In on Theatrical, but These Movie Theater Stunts Might Make It Cool

For years, it’s been Netflix and Chill, but it’s increasingly becoming Netflix and Party.

On Halloween on Friday, Netflix is again releasing a Sing-a-Long version of its mega-hit “KPop Demon Hunters” into theaters, encouraging costumes and trying to get even more fans out of the house by expanding to more territories and theaters. It’s a repeat of an event Netflix staged in August that managed to bring in a box office-topping $19.2 million. And following a trailer on Thursday, Netflix will screen its finale of “Stranger Things” in theaters on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

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It’s attracted a ton of speculation that maybe, just maybe, Netflix is finally softening its stance on putting movies into theaters. Even though Netflix keeps telling you, no and please, for the love of God, stop asking.

“There’s no change in the strategy. Our strategy is to give our members exclusive first-run movies on
Netflix,” Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said just last week during earnings. “We occasionally release certain films in theaters for our fans like we did with ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ or as part of our launch strategy, publicity, marketing, qualification, all those things, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Sure, Ted, but what do you really think about theaters?

“Behaviors evolve. Consumer behavior changes. I do think there’s something very special about it, but thank God it’s not the only way I can see a movie,” Sarandos said on a podcast in February.

But really? Still not sure I believe you.

“I believe it’s an outmoded idea, for most people, not for everybody,” he said again in April.

Fine, but Netflix said it would never have ads until it did, that it would never have sports until it did, and that it would never have live stand-up specials or password sharing crackdowns or stop telling us how many subscribers it had or in-person theme parks that inherently get you away from watching Netflix… all until it did.

All that said, Netflix still isn’t doing “theatrical distribution.” It will never get to Amazon’s level of hoping to release 14-16 movies in theaters a year, report box office numbers, and play that volatile game of success and failure. But it has been ramping up its live events that drive fan engagement, sign-ups, and retention. And, oh by the way, just some of those events also take place inside movie theaters.

What Netflix is great at, more than any other legacy media company, is pivoting and reacting to a hit, capitalizing on what audiences are responding to on its platform. Netflix didn’t plan in advance to do live sing-a-long stunts for “KPop Demon Hunters,” but when the movie became quite literally its biggest of all time in a matter of weeks, it found a way to stage an event and maximize the film’s pop culture impact.

So with the right thing, why wouldn’t Netflix do more of that? “Adolescence” or “Baby Reindeer” might never work in theaters, but it would not be a surprise to see an increase from one or two theatrical events a year to a handful more (Netflix had no comment for this story).

The question will be whether Netflix can bolster its events a bit more, giving the awards titles that get theatrical releases a bit more of a marketing bump to let audiences know they’re there? Guillermo del Toro recently touted that “Frankenstein” had expanded — “really” — to more theaters than you were probably aware. So can it do more to get butts in theater seats and not just make you aware that something is on Netflix?

Enter Greta Gerwig. For her “Narnia” movie, the only way Netflix could make sure it was working with a director on her caliber is to play ball with her desire for theaters. For that film, it’s splitting the difference between a wider theatrical release and utilizing IMAX in order to generate the feeling that this is a special, limited engagement event. We imagine the marketing dollars will come with it.

By doing more things out in the open, be it theatrical events, “Stranger Things” stage plays, Tudum fan events, or the Netflix House opening next month, Netflix is demonstrating that Netflix isn’t only a brand you can engage with in your home. If it can become an affinity brand and develop a similar loyalty, like the kind that people have for A24 or Criterion (in many ways, it already has and by a mile), all that is valuable toward getting more subscribers and keeping them around.

Even more than that, it can make Netflix cool.

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