A new report at Deadline indicates that Netflix may have an idea in mind for the theatrical window length of Warner Bros. Pictures titles should the bid go through.
Their sources indicate the streamer has been “proponents of a 17-day window” while exhibitors such as AMC believe that 45 days should be held as the standard, otherwise it would “steamroll the theatrical business”.
The trade has previously reported several times that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is a big fan of the 17-day window – a short window Universal Pictures already employs on films that have small openings at the box-office, though that’s for PVOD – not SVOD like Netflix.
Exhibitors have been pushing Netflix to make a real commitment to theatrical exhibition ahead of its acquisition of Warner Bros. and the streamer has been showing signs of experimenting more with theatrical runs of late.
Still, many wonder how much Sarandos, who once called theatrical releases an “outmoded idea”, will stick to earlier comments to press that “we are 100% committed to releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters with industry-standard windows”.
