The third quarter report of streaming giant Netflix is now out. After a terrible start of the year; Netflix gained a huge surge in its subscriber count which even they were not expecting.
They predicted a gain of about a million subscribers in the third quarter but the platform earned 2.41 million subscribers in the third quarter.
But, Netflix reported a strange thing yesterday. As you might be aware, big-budget movies on Netflix get an exclusive theatrical release but with very limited access. Big films such as The Gray Man do usually get released in theaters before they finally start streaming on Netflix.
But, those are gone by days.
Netflix has officially announced that they won’t release their films even exclusively after Daniel Craig’s ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘.
They said, “We are in the business of entertaining our members with Netflix movies on Netflix, so that’s where we focus all our energy and most of our spend.”
But we need to answer two questions before forming any judgment for this decision.
WHY DID NETFLIX EVEN RELEASE ORIGINAL MOVIES IN THEATERS?
They used to release their movies in theaters solely because it helped them build a buzz about the movie. Also, it would qualify the movie for consideration in the Academy awards. But, this was backfiring them. The theatrical release comes bundled with early reviews and it has brutally hampered them. As they failed to make a masterpiece such as “The Power Of The Dog” this year, critics bashed poor movies like “The Gray Man”. So no theatrical release would mean no chance of getting roasted before the film’s wide release.
WHY WON’T NETFLIX RELEASE THEIR FILMS IN THEATERS NOW?
Currently, earnings are more important for the platform than the Oscar qualification. Theatrical releases take more capital and thus Netflix is now letting that cost go to savings. It is a rational decision to save money.
Now that you know both sides, what do you think about this decision?
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