Years go by and what many predicted as a conflict that would be resolved quickly —regardless of the winning side— has ended up turning into a war that has spanned more than a decade. This is none other than the one that confronts streaming platforms and the traditional distribution model in movie theaters.
The big N of the small screen
Little by little, the lines that have separated both windows have been blurred and even crossed. Without going further, big companies like Amazon Studios or Apple Original Films have ended up surrendering to the charms of the big screen to take titles like ‘Air’ —which already has 54 million dollars at the international box office— or the upcoming ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ by Martin Scorsese respectively.
However, as if it were Asterix’s village, a platform refuses to exhibit its original productions in the stalls. I am referring to a Netflix that at the end of last year suggested that it would embrace the model of a lifetime after internationally distributing ‘Stabs in the Back: The Mystery of the Glass Onion’, but Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of the Big N, buried all hope during the last presentation of quarterly financial results.
This is how Sarandos put it:
“The film division is doing great. Taking people to the movies is not our business. It is having exciting new content that increases value for our members and our business. No big change at stake.”
Netflix’s positioning regarding theatrical film distribution is wrapped up in the still current controversy over the limitation of shared accounts which has drastically slowed down the increase in subscribers in the first quarter of 2023. Specifically, in the last three months of 2022, 7.66 million users subscribed to the service; the first three of 2023, just 1.75 million.
The company has recognized that its recent strategies have been improvable and, probably, they will apply new measures and changes to make their service more attractive, but it remains to be seen if their modifications will be enough to attract the public again. If not, it remains to be seen if Sarandos and company will end up kneeling and letting their original productions fly beyond the small screen.
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