Cinema United Chief: Meeting with Ted Sarandos Was ‘Constructive,’ but Don’t Expect Netflix in Theaters Just Yet

Michael O’Leary, the president and CEO of exhibitor lobbying group Cinema United, confirmed a recent report that he and other exhibition leaders met with Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos while at CinemaCon this week and called that meeting “constructive” and “positive.” But that doesn’t mean Netflix is about to be presenting on a CinemaCon stage anytime soon.

TheWrap on Monday first reported that Sarandos took several meetings with exhibition heads at Regal and AMC, as well as with Cinema United. And in a press conference breakfast ahead of O’Leary’s State of the Cinema address, O’Leary confirmed the report and said that, while it was a meeting that was set up while Netflix was still in the running to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Sarandos kept the meeting regardless.

“There’s a recognition that we need to look for ways in which we can help each other,” O’Leary said. “Is there a path forward in the future? I think there’s a desire to do that, speaking generically,” but he added that they haven’t quite figured out a specific way or a “sweet spot” that would fit both organizations’ business models.

When asked if that meant Netflix would one day be presenting on a CinemaCon stage in the future, that’s where O’Leary said we were getting way ahead of ourselves. And he reiterated that “there were no promises [made], there was a discussion about other ways we could work together, and I don’t want the message when we walk out here being that Netflix is coming to theaters.”

“Since I got here, that door’s open to anybody who wants to be in theatrical in a meaningful way,” he said. “So if you’re asking me in two years if they were doing a Netflix presentation because there’s half a dozen movies going into theaters, with a fully supported marketing and windows, yeah, absolutely, we’ll find time.”

That, of course, is the rub, and when Netflix was getting into the theatrical business as a buyer of WBD, Sarandos spoke definitively about giving movies a minimum of a 45-day theatrical window for Warner Bros. titles before those films appeared on Netflix. People had additional questions as to whether Sarandos meant 45 days until PVOD like most WB movies are or to SVOD, where many people consider movies effectively “free.”

We won’t have to worry about those specifics now since Paramount is buying WB instead. But O’Leary did talk about windowing more in his speech and with press. He said while there is a distinction between PVOD and SVOD in terms of its impact on theaters, he believes the PVOD window can still be impactful or harmful if it’s too short, and that the SVOD window should ideally be closer to 90, 100, or even 120 days as it is for some films.

O’Leary’s speech on Tuesday re-affirmed his support for longer windows, and he celebrated Universal’s recent announcement that it would move to 45-day windows for all of its wide releases. He also reiterated Cinema United’s opposition to the merger of Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery, saying that they believe the transaction will be harmful to exhibitors and consumers.

“Further concentrating marketplace power in the hands of a smaller group of distributors that dictate the terms, windows, scheduling, screen-placement of movies, and access to historic film catalogs will have a real and lasting impact on Main Street and millions of movie fans around the world,” he said. “We will continue to press these issues at the state and federal level. And with the help of our friends at UNIC and around the world, the international level as well.”