"Cinema doors have been open to Netflix movies for years
," says John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theater Owners in the United States.
The organizer of the CinemaCon festival in Las Vegas keeps repeating that, contrary to what the ominous birds of the industry want to say, the streaming giant will not cause the disappearance of cinemas, movies on the big screen and popcorn.
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Now that the box office is starting to recover from the blows inflicted by the pandemic and Netflix has just suffered its first loss of subscribers in over a decade, cinemas could even help the platform adapt to a most uncertain future. , Mr. Fithian insists.
He says he's had
"many discussions"
with Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, to
"urge him to try to see if they can't do well in theaters as well
. "
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“I don't care about the stock price one way or another. I'm just looking at the stats... Even if you're streaming, you can make more money if you release your best movies in theaters first
,” he says.
Release films on the big screen before making them available to subscribers?
The idea seems the opposite of the economic model chosen by Netflix, which major studios like Disney or Warner have frantically tried to emulate in recent years by launching their own streaming platforms.
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After renting DVDs by post, Netflix had revolutionized the entertainment market by poaching Hollywood stars and talents with billions to produce movies and series to watch at home.
But the net loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter announced last week panicked Wall Street, where Netflix shares plunged 30%.
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The platform, which anticipates a drop of two million subscribers in the second quarter, has already announced the implementation of new strategies to curb the phenomenon, including previously unthinkable solutions, such as cheaper subscriptions but with advertising.
In this light, the release of Netflix films in the cinema before streaming would no longer seem so absurd.
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For now, the platform is content to show its films in a small number of theaters in order to satisfy the rules of the Oscars and other film awards.
But John Fithian
“thinks the Netflix model could evolve”
towards a greater presence in cinemas.
“We hope so
,” underlines the president of the organization, which says it represents some 35,000 screens in the United States.
A theatrical release allows a film to
"stand out better"
while those who
"go directly to streaming get lost"
, he pleads.
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Amazon Prime worried
The mood of theater bosses in Las Vegas is noticeably better than during the previous edition of CinemaCon in August 2021, when the latest variant of Covid-19 spooked viewers and studios bypassed theaters to release their films. streamed directly.
John Fithian even took the luxury this week of proclaiming that the fashion of putting films simultaneously in cinemas and on the internet on the same day, inaugurated during the pandemic, was
“dead”
.
“It didn't come out of nowhere.
I said that after consulting many of our studio partners
,” he told AFP.
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Major US studios recently announced they are returning to an exclusivity
“window”
for films in theaters, although they have reduced this period to 45 days from around 90 before the pandemic.
Despite this improvement and the outstretched hand to Netflix, cinemas still have reason to worry.
John Fithian says he is
"very worried"
about another streaming giant, Amazon Prime.
According to him, the economic model of this platform is not to
"earn money with films"
but rather to attract the customer so that he
"does his shopping and goes through his delivery service"
.
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Amazon Prime has just bought MGM studios, which notably produce the James Bond franchise, for $8.5 billion.
If Amazon Prime wants to remove films from cinemas
“to broadcast them only at home, they reduce consumer choice as well as competition”
, deplores John Fithian.
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For its part, Apple TV+ last month became the first video-on-demand service to win the supreme Oscar for best feature film for
CODA
.
A cinematic year judged simply
"very bizarre"
by Mr. Fithian.
