We always said that the Warner Bros. bake-off was an Alien Vs. Predator situation (“Whoever wins, we lose”). Rumor has it, we’re losing. Sources tell Deadline that if Netflix acquires Warner Bros., the streamer is “proponents of a 17-day” theatrical window for WB releases before they hit Netflix, which would “steamroll the theatrical business.”
Meanwhile, Deadline reports that AMC Theaters believes the line should be held at 45 days. AMC has been carefully mending its relationship with the streamer, releasing KPop Demon Hunters and the Stranger Things finale in theaters as special, limited-time events. Over the weekend, the episode apparently made close to $30 million. While Netflix doesn’t release box office grosses, an AMC press release stated that 753,000 Stranger Things fans “flocked” to AMC theaters for the finale. However, all the money went to concessions. Apparently, due to the cast’s contract terms on residuals (a key reason Netflix doesn’t want movies making too much money in theaters), AMC sold concession vouchers with seat reservations.
None of this is particularly shocking. It’s one of the top reasons so many have been wary of Netflix’s acquisition. Upon news of the company’s $82 billion offer, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos hoped to quell concern by saying, “There’s been a lot of talk about theatrical distribution, so we want to set the record straight: we are 100% committed to releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters with industry-standard windows.” The “industry-standard” is not 17 days. That is more in line with the Netflix standard. But Sarandos has been degrading movie theaters in the months leading up to the offer, and he seems intent on doing to theaters what he did to video stores. Before his “100%” commitment to perfunctory releases that would destroy movie culture, Sarandos said theatrical releases were “an outmoded idea,” that Netflix is “saving Hollywood,” and bragged that his son watched Lawrence Of Arabia on his. To which we quote Sarandos’ old buddy, the late David Lynch, who once said:
“Now, if you’re playing the movie on a telephone or on your computer, you will never in a trillion years experience the film. You’ll think you have experienced it, but you’ll be cheated. You’ll be experiencing weakness and extreme putrification of a potential experience in another world. So don’t let your friends or some television advertisement trick you into accepting weakness. It’s such a sadness. Power in that world is critical. Everything has been worked on to be a certain way, and if you don’t have a set up for your films. it’s a joke. It’s just the most sickening horrifying joke, and this world is so troubled. It’s such sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your fucking telephone. Get real.”
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