The Case for Netflix Movie Theaters

     There is no such thing as keeping politics out of art. It is an inherently political landscape, and attempting to report on the creation and distribution of cinema without confronting that fact is a fool’s errand at best. As a writer, what is significantly more attainable is avoiding interjecting one’s own politics into the coverage, and the content of The Film Encomium will always strive to meet that standard. 

     However, there can always be circumstances which justify peeling back the curtain a little bit. The internet is very much a space where wealthy businesses and individuals will compensate content creators for sympathizing with them. It’s not something that can be ignored when someone like myself is releasing a piece about the further conglomeration within the entertainment industry. 

     Which is why I feel the need to address you from a personal standpoint before the bulk of my assessment gets going. I am no friend to corporate America. In my daily life, even the acquaintances who don’t particularly care for me would tacitly verify that my overarching ideals are not compatible with those of capitalism. There is no briefcase full of cash delivered by any shady henchman that could sway my drive to convey my beliefs honestly and without bias. 

     With that being said, I also try to keep my personal inclinations from totally overwhelming my assessment of what is in front of me. In my observation, it seems that there is a fairly large overlap between anti-corporate sentiment and the base of nerd culture—which makes a lot of sense, but that’s a whole other article. The point here is that people tend to take their negative emotions towards a massive production company and translate it directly into criticism of all productions that fall under that company’s jurisdiction, almost completely regardless of the actual quality of the end product being churned out—Disney and the Star Wars/Marvel Universes likely being the most prominent example of this cultural phenomenon. 

     It’s perfectly acceptable to choose to boycott a corporation you disagree with on ideological grounds. In fact, I highly encourage you to do so. A completely alternative concept is voicing that disagreement by consuming the vast majority of products being produced by large enterprises; and doing so with the sole intent of reviewing that content poorly. This is not pushing back, it is supporting the corporate entity while diminishing the experience of your fellow consumer—all while brainwashing yourself into the viewpoint that you are doing the opposite.  

     Last week, a deal was announced that would see streaming giant Netflix acquire content and rights giant Warner Brothers for $72 billion. One of the bits of insider speculation that came along with this was the potential for the New Netflix Colossus to expand its reach into the purchase of physical theater locations; speculation that led some to bemoan the transaction over the potential loss of “the traditional theater experience”. 

     Now, I am not particularly thrilled about this transaction. A total entertainment monopoly is something that would be a death sentence for the creative mind, and when companies of this size coalesce, we begin earnestly running that risk. There are palpable and wide-reaching threats to our daily lives that occur in limiting the dissemination of varied viewpoints, and that will always happen to some extent when two organizations this size become one. 

     The one portion of this discussion where I fear we may be misplacing our concern is in this idea of streaming services and movie theaters converging. It is hard to say how efficiently this would be implemented on day one, and neither Netflix nor any other major streaming service has made an official statement of intent of moving their investments in the direction of physical locations, but it has been the focus of rampant speculation—and rightly so. 

     The moving pictures came off the silver screen and found their way into our living rooms. It was an inevitability from the moment the first tube sets got plopped down in suburban households, and that inevitability was exacerbated by 100-fold with the advent of the Digital Age and rise of streaming. My goal here today is not to convince you that is a wholly negative process, but simply to present an argument that the re-housing of cinema overshot its destination, and that a course correction is just as inevitable as the rest of the journey was.

     Art has many facets, but one of those facets is that of a social experience. It would be immensely difficult for any artistic form to thrive without a space to enjoy it with other people. Keeping that in mind, here is a rundown of three major reasons why we should not only be open to the concept of streaming services moving into our theater space, but we should very much be (cautiously) optimistic about the prospect:

1. The content is overwhelming the physical space. 

   

   
   

     One of the biggest guffaws the Internet seemed to have over the concept of Netflix Theaters is that movies wouldn’t stay in theaters as long, and that very well may be true. I will be the first to admit that—if they took extended runs out of theaters without anything to replace them with—that would be a major concern. Yet, IF it is implemented correctly, this will be one of the biggest net positives of the entire experience.  

     Compared to the period of time when movie theaters started popping up all over the country, we now have an endless abyss of content to fall back on. Even if you limit it to only films that have just been released, there is too much for any 20-Screen Megaplex to keep up with. International film is thriving, and deserves a larger foothold in our common scope. Theaters have recently started the practice of screening “classic” films that are frequently no more than a few years old, not to mention re-screenings for Oscar-nominated films. 

     If the “give” of this give-and-take is an incredibly wider variety of content available on the big screen, the “take” of moving to 1-2 week initial releases suddenly becomes much more viable. Throw on top of that a new policy where films start getting standardized rereleases around the six-month mark? That is the point where it starts to become a net-win for the consumer. 

2. Series on the big screen.

   

   
   

  Like many others, I was fortunate enough to catch the Stranger Things finale in theaters. I assume this was at least partially research for them to prod for the potential turnout of something like that, and if it was, they had to be encouraged by the results. The truth is, most major cities will be home to enough fans of any popular city to at least justify a screening or two of the season finale for any reasonably popular show. That’s taking a fairly conservative estimate on the response, in my opinion. 

     There is a possibility that this would always be relegated to a niche market; but there is just as much of a chance that it would wind up being one of those parts of life we never knew we needed before it was right in front of us. I’m sure that whenever something along these lines hits the market it will only come with some sort of “premium plus” option to include access to the service’s physical locations, and one of the features that could help make that worthwhile for viewers is just having full seasons of shows rolling during the day. You just show up at 11 AM on a Saturday and get to stay there until late at night, binging a whole season that comes included with your subscription. 

     There is no doubt in my mind that there would be a market for this, and I would certainly be part of it. With full shows, there has always been much more of a drive for connection between members of the audience. That sort of implicit camaraderie would work hand-in-hand with an atmosphere of regular live screenings. It is, perhaps, the aspect of this concept with the highest level of potential engagement. 

3. Reinvigorating the theater industry. 

   

     Finally, we arrive at the most urgent prospect. It is no secret amongst the film community that theater attendance was rapidly dropping even before the pandemic thoroughly tanked those numbers. There have been discussions about getting people back out to the theater for a good many years, and this is truly the area where merging these industries does the most to kill two birds with one stone. It will be nearly impossible to justify the number of locations and screens we have around this country without some out-of-the-box thinking. 

     THIS is the radical answer the industry has been searching for. It is a method which will allow the medium to grow, the audience to enter a new generation of entertainment, and the big wigs to still meet their greedy little bottom dollar. We want to not only keep the movie theater industry in this country/world afloat, but help it return to a place where it is thriving. Cinema is at its very best when enjoyed in the company of others, and the possible negative implications that come with the type of merger necessary to move a vision like this forward are far outweighed by the existential benefit of getting people back out to the movies. 

     Again, I cannot tell you whether or not these billion-dollar corporations are able to see this path forward, so we may have to help them. We don’t even know if a move being made towards Netflix Theaters is actually an imminent one. All that I am trying to convince you of is that there very much is a way to implement this basic notion which will benefit the world as a whole, and improve the cinematic universe forever. 

Cheers,

Jared B. Halstead

Pirate Captain

The Film Encomium