When you sit down in a theater to watch future Warner Bros./Netflix movies like The Batman Part II, The Brave and the Bold, World’s Greatest, or even something without Batman in it, thank the 2025 theatrical slate. In a new interview with the New York Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explained that after looking at the books for Warner Bros. theatrical distribution, he was ready to commit to giving future films a 45-day window to stay exclusively in theaters.
“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,” Sarandos told the Times. “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.”
Sarandos had previously committed to, at least, keeping Warner Bros. movies in theaters, but didn’t specifically say for how long. However, he came to this conclusion as Netflix dug deeper into its purchase. “The opportunity to get into the books and understand the business model better, and what we saw there was that there’s a real there there for us,” he said. “The general economics of the theatrical business were more positive than we had seen and we had modeled for ourselves. 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.”
Reading between those lines, you have to think the Netflix team looked at how well films like The Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Superman, Final Destination Bloodlines, and The Conjuring: Last Rites performed and had a slight change of heart. If Warner Bros. was being sold after 2024 (Furiosa, Joker: Folie à Deux, Horizon, etc.), maybe it wouldn’t have been so obvious.
The Netflix executive also explained what he believes are some other common misconceptions regarding Netflix and theaters. “I would say one of the other myths about all this is that we thought of going to the theaters as competition for Netflix. It absolutely is not,” Sarandos said. “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. If anything, I think it helps, you know, encourage the love of films.”
“You have to give them something to watch,” he added. “And I think we’ve got to take ownership of the idea that when people are excited to go out and see something, they go. You’ve seen it in some really nice upside at the box office this year. You’ve seen it in our Stranger Things finale experience. You saw it in our KPop Demon Hunters experience with people. You give people a reason to leave the house, they will gladly leave the house.”
These are all encouraging quotes from the Netflix co-CEO and while 45 days is still shorter than many would like, at least it’s something. What are your thoughts on future Warner Bros. movies being in theaters for 45 days?
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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