Copyright Screen Rant
Netflix's relationship to movie theaters has been a frustration for people like me, who love them. Even as competitors learned that wide theatrical releases create a level of awareness that boosts movies when they come to streaming, rather than eat away at their potential viewership, Hollywood's biggest streamer has maintained that they have a different business model. Except in very rare cases, the only way of seeing Netflix movies on the big screen is to live near one of the limited theaters they appear in during awards qualifying runs. I have sometimes been that lucky – seeing Martin Scorsese's The Irishman at the local one-screen cinema near my college (with a mostly elderly audience, who gasped when Jimmy Hoffa didn't want the teamsters' flag at half-mast after JFK's assassination) remains one of my favorite movie experiences. Lately, however – and I'm knocking on wood as I write this – things seem to be looking up. Months after Greta Gerwig swung her IMAX deal for Narnia, which Netflix insisted wasn't a major change of policy, multiple reports have indicated they have repaired their relationship with AMC, the world's largest theater chain. First, AMC joins in on the second one-weekend release for KPop Demon Hunters, over Halloween, after passing in August. Then, news breaks that the Stranger Things series finale will play in some AMC theaters simultaneous to its Netflix release. Now, the latest update from Variety reveals that more is on the table. Gerwig's Narnia might play in more than just the 1000 IMAX screens originally planned, and Netflix is reportedly considering a "more robust rollout" for Adventures of Cliff Booth, the follow-up to Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by David Fincher. Plans aren't finalized, but they're currently eyeing a release sometime next summer. If that happens, it'll snap a 16-year streak I've long hoped to see the end of. David Fincher Hasn't Released A Theatrical Movie Since 2014 While many in the film community have been vocal opponents of Netflix's disregard for theatrical distribution, they're hardly Hollywood pariahs. They've done a lot to build quality relationships with talent, and a number of films that might never have been greenlit otherwise have been produced under their banner. Their way of doing things has earned the loyalty of some prominent creatives. One of the earliest of those was David Fincher, who executive produced and directed the first episode of House of Cards, the series that put Netflix on the map in the world of original content. After 2014's Gone Girl – the highest-grossing movie of his career to date – he spent years with them making two seasons of Mindhunter, and he's been on an exclusive deal with them since 2020, with at least a couple more years left to go. At a time when the viability of the theatrical model is an open question, cinemas need filmmakers like David Fincher, and his work deserves the prominence of a big-screen rollout. Mank released in 2020, when the safest way to see it was at home, but 2023's The Killer would've played just as well as the director's other thrillers. Neither film has the cultural footprint it deserves.
