As the reality of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. draws closer, Ted Sarandos is working overtime to convince people that Netflix is a suitable home for the storied Hollywood studio. The media landscape may be collapsing into one or two companies, but at least one of those companies is Netflix, Sarandos argues. Speaking to The New York Times, the Netflix co-CEO wanted to get a couple of things straight. First, they didn’t get into the theatrical business, not because it’s an “outdated concept,” as Sarandos said in the past, or that the company “hated” it. Rather, they didn’t realize it was a “healthy and profitable business,” and the Netflix model of overspending on Russo brothers projects and burying them on an algorithm was “doing so well.”
Now, walking back some of his comments regarding putting movies in theaters, Sarandos tells The Times that he’s committing to “45-day windows” for WB’s theatrical releases. “When this deal closes, we will own a theatrical distribution engine that is phenomenal and produces billions of dollars of theatrical revenue that we don’t want to put at risk,” he says. “We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows. I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.”
But when it comes to whether movies are “outmoded,” Sarados clarifies that theaters are “outmoded for some,” particularly those who have to drive to another town to visit one. “You have to listen to that quote again. I said ‘outmoded for some,’” says Sarandos. “I mean, like the town that Sinners is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there.” Maybe that town should have a movie theater because Sarandos’ future employee, Ryan Coogler, hosted a packed screening there. Nevertheless, Sarandos continues, “For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to see a movie.” Right, Ted, no one gets in a car and drives to the movies. That’s why movie theaters don’t have parking lots. Movie theaters are just for city folk, those young urban elites who can walk to six multiplexes, like Sarandos’ daughter. “But my daughter lives in Manhattan. She could walk to six multiplexes, and she’s in the theaters twice a week. Not outmoded for her at all.”
To be clear, at the Time100 Summit in April 2025, Sarandos said, “I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people, not for everybody. If you’re fortunate enough to live in Manhattan and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.” We have to assume that all of Sarandos’ movie-going opinions are based on what his kids are up to. Recently, he argued that screen size doesn’t matter because his son, a 28-year-old editor, watched Lawrence Of Arabia on his phone.
