Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has conceded that the streamer’s one-week theatrical preview release of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” left a lot of money on the table.
However, he says the streamer is not trying to build a theatrical business, rather “we’re interested in customer satisfaction on our service” he says whilst speaking with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times Dealbook Summit in Manhattan.
The Daniel Craig-led film opened in 638 US cinemas, around one-fifth the size of major theatrical tentpole releases, yet the movie reportedly grossed in the region of $13 million in its first five days.
Hastings goes on to confirm the cinema release of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery was a promotional tactic for the ‘real’ release on Netflix on December 23rd. From that perspective, the move worked great:
With film we release them typically at film festivals early to stimulate conversation and demand, but not to fulfill that demand, except when it launches on Netflix and everybody watches.
Our week in… a small number of theatres has done exactly that: everybody’s talking about it and is excited about Glass Onion. It’s going to be huge and [on] December 23rd the whole world’s going to get to see it and I think it will be one of our biggest films. And so it’s a promotional tactic like film festivals, and if it works well we’ll do more of it.”
Asked if he would ever consider a week-long release across a full 3,000 cinema screens for one or two weeks, Hastings sugests that’s not likely:
“Two religions: member satisfaction and operating income. That’s what we’re focused on. We use this as a promotional technique, so that more people watch it on Netflix… We’re not trying to build a theatrical business; we’re trying to get people so excited and break through the noise so everybody [is clamouring to see it]. Then everybody’s going to watch it on December 23.”
As part of the same interview, Hastings admits the streaming landscape has changed, and it’s more of a “brawl now” for premium content in this space. He credits Bob Iger for seeing Disney’s future was going to be in streaming and because of that success, “everyone else jumped in”.
Hastings also praised Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk as “the bravest, most creative person on the planet…. his style is different. I’m trying to be a respectable leader. He’s just out there.”
Finally, Hastings says he knows the company was late to the advertising game and had not understood there was demand from advertisers to reach the 18-49 demographic through smart TVs. The streamer launched its ad-supported tier earlier this month.
Source: Screen Daily
