Written by Stephen B. Webster

*Courtesy of Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images for American Cinematheque.*

Netflix’s decision to give Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ a full theatrical release seemed to support the message of championing theatrical releases. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, has been working to make clear that the streamer is not the enemy of cinemas. But Dan Lin, Netflix’s film chief, offered a more blunt view in a recent interview with The New York Times.

“There is a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical. Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted we just won’t work with,” Lin said.

That marks a clear break from his predecessor, Scott Stuber, who often pushed for bigger theatrical releases for films by major auteurs such as Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, and even tried to court Christopher Nolan. Stuber told Variety in 2021 that he would do “everything” he could to make Netflix a home for Nolan’s work.

Lin admitted his candor can be difficult for filmmakers. He told the Times that, early on, he took artists at their word when they asked for honesty, only to realize they did not always want to hear it. Now, he said, he tries to deliver the truth more constructively.

“One mistake I made when I first joined the company was that filmmakers always said to me, ‘Please tell me the truth.’ And when I told them the truth, they might not have wanted to hear it. So now I’m learning how to better read people. And if someone tells me they want to hear the truth, I tell it in a way that can be as productive as possible,” Lin said to the Times.

Netflix is still giving some films theatrical runs, including David Fincher’s ‘The Adventures of Cliff Booth,’ which will screen in IMAX in December. But Lin’s comments make clear that, despite occasional cinema releases, Netflix’s main priority remains streaming.

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