At least once a year, if not once a quarter, Netflix is asked why it doesn’t invest more in theatrical and put more movies in theaters. Every time their answer is the same, though this time Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gave his response a new spin. Sarandos on Thursday’s Q3 earnings call said each of the streamer’s top 10 movies have over 100 million views (actually more than 136 million according to Netflix’s numbers ) and are “among the most watched films in the world,” theatrical or not.
But a massive audience isn’t all Netflix gives them. “What we do for filmmakers is we bring them the biggest audience in the world for their films, and then we help them make the best films of their life,” Sarandos said. “That could be any one of the nine Best Picture nominee films that we’ve released so far, or it could be any of those top 10 films that are as big as billion dollar box office movies.
So I’m sure that we can continue to pierce the Zeitgeist and have those moments in the culture, even when those moments begin on Netflix.” We’re certain it isn’t lost on Ted that Netflix has nine Best Picture nominees, yet zero wins (Apple even has one). But Oscars aren’t everything when it comes to determining culture defining movies.
The debate over what movies break into the “Zeitgeist” and make an impact on popular culture is an ongoing one without a clear answer. There’s no doubt Netflix has made waves with dozens of shows becoming pop culture juggern.
