The other day came the news that “Stranger Things” creators Matt & Ross Duffer were looking to pack up shop and move over to Paramount, which is ramping up deals and production fast in the wake of the Skydance merger.
Now, Puck News’ Matt Belloni has gone into more details about the deal with the ‘dealbreaker’ reason for the pair’s exit after nearly a decade at Netflix, being the streamer’s hardline stance against theatrical releases in cinemas.
Whereas the Duffers have made their name on “Stranger Things,” and still have a spin-off and several other series in the works at Netflix, a big component of the Paramount overall deal is them getting to do theatrical feature films.
Rumours of the deal emerged mid-week, with the new report suggesting it’s essentially official. Earlier in the week, new Paramount president Jeff Shell said his studio is 100% committed to theatrical.
That’s quite a different tune to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, who said at the TIME100 Summit that while he personally likes cinemas, theatrical releases are an “outmoded idea” for “most people, not for everybody”.
The fight between theatrical and streaming continues, along with this stirring debate once again.
