Directors who have made their mark with theatrical releases — like Greta Gerwig, Rian Johnson, Martin Scorsese and Alfonso Cuarón — are also making content exclusively for Netflix. The streamer offers lucrative contracts, creative freedom and an audience pool of more than 300 million subscribers, Hollywood insiders told CNBC. Success of a Netflix film is based on viewership, a metric that is not comparable to box-office dollars, but the company has had at least one best picture contender at the Academy Awards since 2019. Film directors Rian Johnson (L), Greta Gerwig (C), and Guillermo Del Toro (R) Getty Images
Netflix isn’t interested in bringing movies to theaters.
The company’s leaders have said they see theatrical movie releases as an “outdated” model. Yet for more than a decade, the streamer has lured in some of Hollywood’s biggest directors