Netflix to start opening its movies in theaters first

A little over 10 years ago, Netflix started to stream movies online, and the entertainment industry was never the same. Why should people go to the theaters when they have everything they need right in front of them? And when Netflix started producing its own stuff, things got even more uncertain. Surely movie theater chains would soon collapse — popcorn bags left empty, boxes of Milk Duds uneaten, the end of the moviegoing experience as we know it.

That didn’t happen. In fact, according to Variety, Netflix is now making concessions to theater owners, several of which it’s been negotiating with for months. Although Netflix executives have long dismissed the theatergoing experience as archaic, it will now give three of its upcoming high-profile movies exclusive theatrical releases before they become available to stream a short time later: Bird Box, a horror thriller starring Sandra Bullock; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Western anthology from the Coen brothers; and Roma, a slice of life drama about a Mexican family struggling with hard time from Alfonso Cuarón.

Why is Netflix making this concession to theaters when they’re boring and dumb and outdated and also they smell and they’re stupid? According to Variety, it’s because as much pull as Netflix has, it still has parties it wants to keep happy. The service has attracted a lot of top-flight talent — Cuarón and the Coen brothers are both big deals — but filmmakers still prefer that their movies be shown on the big screen. This move could be a way to make them happy. Then there’s the Oscars to think about. While several Netflix original TV shows have had success at the Emmys, its movies haven’t found similar success at the Oscars, with a few exceptions. Academy Award voters like stuff on the big screen, so if this is what Netflix has to do to please them, then that’s what’ll happen.

Roma in particular is getting a lot of Oscar buzz, and will have the longest theatrical engagement: it opens in theaters November 21 and drops on Netflix December 14. Buster Scruggs hits the big screen November 8 and the small screen November 16, while Bird Box opens in theaters December 13 and on Netflix December 21. Are you happy now, theater chains?

The funny thing is: no, they’re not, at least if you go by this statement from the National Association of Theater Owners:

"This halfway gesture will fail to satisfy theatrical audiences, filmmakers and Netflix subscribers. Netflix has yet to learn that it isn’t theatrical vs streaming – it’s theatrical and streaming, properly sequenced."

Shots fired, I think. Maybe the solution is for everybody to just watch Hulu?

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