Netflix Learned Theaters Are Free Marketing

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at Bloomberg's Screentime event Wednesday that the "KPop Demon Hunters" sequel, expected in 2029, will get "a very broad theatrical release," according to Deadline. The original pulled 325.1 million views in its first 90 days on the platform and sat in the global Top 10 for 63 straight weeks.

"Big, broad, global." Three adjectives doing the work of a budget number. Netflix, the company that spent a decade telling theaters they were a holding pen for leftovers, is now going to report box office on its own films for the first time, with success defined as "not tied to the P&L." That is a box office strategy with no failure mode. The worst case is a press release nobody likes.

The math underneath is elegant, which is the scary part. Sarandos said the most passionate audience sees the movie in theaters, and by the time it lands on the platform what's left is the "I meant to see that" crowd. That's a funnel. Theaters as the top of the funnel, the stream as the email list. The world tour, which Deadline set in May, already proved the math without a single theater. The demon accountants need the 2029 run so the poster looks like an event instead of an upload.

The rest of the slate is aimed the same way: a wide release for a Narnia movie, a wide release for a Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, a Frankenstein that stayed in theaters for six months after it was on the stream. Kids are the only audience that goes twice, and a six-year-old can't be bought a subscription. A theater is a room with a big screen and a rule that you sit still for two hours. It turns out that's the one marketing channel the subscription math never accounted for, so the streamer that spent years fighting the theatrical window is now selling it.

YOUR TURN: Are you going to pay for the theater run to prove the math wrong, or is the "I meant to see that" rewatch already on the calendar?