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Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, has committed to a 45-day window for theatrical movie releases once its $82.7 billion deal for Warner Bros. goes through.
Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Netflix “have been proponents of a 17-day window which would steamroll the theatrical business.”
However, in a new interview with The New York Times, Sarandos pushed back on the widespread belief that Netflix’s deal for Warner Bros. will spell disaster for theaters and moviegoing, insisting Hollywood misunderstands what it’s trying to achieve.
“The general economics of the theatrical business were more positive than we had seen and we had modeled for ourselves,” Sarandos said of Warner Bros.’s movie arm. “It’s a healthy, profitable business for them. We weren’t in that business not because we hated it. We weren’t in that business because our business was doing so well.
“I understand that folks are emotional about it because they love it and they don’t want it to go away. And they think that we’ve been doing things to make it go away. We haven’t.”
At this point in the interview, Sarandos committed to the 45-day window.
“When this deal closes, we will own a theatrical distribution engine that is phenomenal and produces billions of dollars of theatrical revenue that we don’t want to put at risk. We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows. I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.”
Netflix’s decision here could have an enormous impact on everything from James Gunn’s DC Universe movie, Man of Tomorrow (July 9, 2027), to The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (December 17, 2027). Then there’s Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part 2, which is due out October 1, 2027, and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, due out March 26, 2027.
And it’s worth pointing out that Sarandos hasn’t committed to a 45-day window forever. Indeed, in a financial call discussing the deal last year, Sarandos said Netflix would continue to release Warner Bros. movies in theaters for now, though expected theatrical release windows to shorten over time to become “more user friendly.”
“We’ve released about 30 films into theaters this year, so it’s not like we have got this opposition to movies into theaters,” Sarandos said at the time. “My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long, exclusive windows that we don’t think are that user friendly.”
“I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies, or for Warner movies for that matter,” Sarandos continued. “I think over time the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are, quicker. All those things we’d like to do. But I’d say right now you should count on everything that is planned as going to the theaters through Warner Bros., will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros.”
In the New York Times interview, Sarandos was challenged on his much-quoted dismissal of cinemagoing as an “outmoded idea.” He clarified that he said going to the theater was outmoded “for some.”
“I mean, like the town that Sinners is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there,” he said. “For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to go see a movie. But my daughter lives in Manhattan. She could walk to six multiplexes, and she’s in the theaters twice a week. Not outmoded for her at all.”
Sarandos also insisted that the idea of Netflix as competition for going to the theater is a myth, adding that people will leave the house to go to the movies if they’re truly excited about a film.
“When you go out to see a movie in the theater, if it was a good movie, when you come home, the first thing you want to do is watch another movie,” he said. “If anything, I think it helps, you know, encourage the love of films.
“I did not get in this business to hurt the theatrical business. I got into this business to help consumers, to help movie fans.”
The future of cinemagoing is top of mind as 2026 kicks off, with Netflix’s Warner Bros. deal waiting in the wings. Meanwhile, box office revenue is struggling, with even Marvel movies — previously guaranteed hits — having trouble getting fans into theaters. The big question right now is, are we witnessing the beginning of the end of going to the cinema?
Hollywood legend Leonardo DiCaprio recently expressed concern about the future of cinemagoing, asking whether it would become a niche pursuit. In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Titanic, Inception, and The Wolf of Wall Street star wondered whether “people still have the appetite” for theaters, and, if not, whether they might “become silos — like jazz bars.”
Meanwhile, Avatar director James Cameron has said Netflix buying Warner Bros. would be a “disaster.”
“Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez,” he said on The Town podcast ahead of the launch of Avatar: Fire and Ash. “Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’” Indeed, Cameron remains unconvinced that Netflix would truly commit to any meaningful theatrical distribution if it expanded. “It’s sucker bait,” he said. “‘We’ll put the movie out for a week or 10 days. We’ll qualify for Oscar consideration.’ See, I think that’s fundamentally rotten to the core. A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical, and the Academy Awards mean nothing to me if they don’t mean theatrical. I think they’ve been co-opted, and I think it’s horrific.”
That said, Cameron isn’t opposed to Netflix playing the game if it actually, well, plays the game. “They should be allowed to compete if they put the movie out for a meaningful release in 2,000 theaters for a month,” Cameron noted.
One report has claimed Netflix is particularly keen to obtain Warner Bros.’ vast content library as the streamer ramps up its potential to offer AI-generation tools and content in the future.
Photo by Vincent Feuray / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
