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Netflix Talks More About Its Original Theatrical Movie Aspirations

You may recall last fall when Netflix expressed interest in making original movies – big ones that would come out on Netflix the same day they hit theaters. Content chief Ted Sarandos spoke at a...
Netflix Talks More About Its Original Theatrical Movie Aspirations
Written by Chris Crum
  • You may recall last fall when Netflix expressed interest in making original movies – big ones that would come out on Netflix the same day they hit theaters.

    Content chief Ted Sarandos spoke at a Film Independent event, where was quoted as saying, “What we’re trying to do for TV, the model should extend pretty nicely to movies. Meaning, why not premiere movies on Netflix, the same day they’re opening in theaters? And not little movies – there’s a lot of ways, and lot of people to do that [already]. Why not big movies? Why not follow the consumers’ desire to watch things when they want?”

    Sarandos offered an updated version of his thoughts about this concept in a Google Hangout to discuss the company’s Q4 financial performance on Wednesday.

    Asked about his aspirations for big movies, Sarandos said, “Without confirming or denying the range or the aspiration, I would say that to the consumers, the line between a movie and a TV is getting pretty blurry. So TV shows are thirteen-hour movies, and movies are two-hour TV shows. So I think the way we’re looking at it [is] we want to make really compelling content in multiple formats, and the one thing that’s evolving pretty dramatically I think is the interest and desire for movies in different windows than today’s models allow for.”

    He continued, “So while I think the viewing is dramatically moving more towards at home and on demand, movies still wait about a year behind theatrical before they’re available to folks like HBO and Netflix, so what we’d like to do is look at different ways that we can accelerate that window, and maybe, like with original programming, the most effective way to work that is to do it yourself.”

    If you follow Arrested Development news at all, you’ve no doubt heard the rumors about there being a movie for that. Netflix has expressed interest in this specifically. Whether it comes to fruition remains to be seen, but last yar it was starting to look like a real possibility.

    We’ve also been hearing rumors that Ron Howard (of Arrested Development fame) is working on a series of films with a television element for Stephen King’s The Dark Tower book series. Rumor also has it that it could make its way to Netflix.

    Image via YouTube

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