Netflix may be giving two major theatrical releases, but it still isn’t changing its stance on cinemas. They are backing high-profile projects from Greta Gerwig‘s Narnia and Brad Pitt‘s The Adventures of Cliff Booth. However, the company continues to view theatrical runs as rare exceptions rather than a shift in strategy.
What did Dan Lin say about Netflix and movie theaters?
Speaking about Narnia to The New York Times, Dan Lin stressed that the film’s theatrical rollout is “an exception,” rather than the beginning of the theatrical era for Netflix. He insisted that Netflix’s philosophy regarding theaters has not changed.
Lin was characteristically blunt about filmmakers who prioritize theatrical releases. “There is a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical. Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted we just won’t work with,” he said.
The comments reinforce Netflix’s long-standing approach of prioritizing subscriber engagement over box office performance. Even as high-profile projects such as Narnia and Fincher’s Cliff Booth movie attract attention, the Streaming platform appears unwilling to compromise with its core strategy.
For now, Netflix’s occasional big-screen experiments seem unlikely to evolve into a permanent embrace of movie theaters.
Notably, the projects receiving theatrical releases are prestige-driven films, despite Netflix maintaining that they do not represent a broader strategic shift. Narnia and the Cliff Booth spinoff may simply demonstrate how exceptional a filmmaker has to be to secure one.
Gerwig’s highly anticipated Narnia adaptation is set to hit theaters on February 12, 2027, before arriving on Netflix on April 2, 2027. Meanwhile, David Fincher’s upcoming The Adventures of Cliff Booth, featuring Brad Pitt reprising his Oscar-winning role from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will receive an exclusive two-week IMAX run beginning November 25, 2026, ahead of its Netflix debut
Originally reported by Abhisek Sarkar on ComingSoon.net.
