Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion oped editorial

EDITORIAL: For some, Netflix redefines the consumption of film

Netflix just announced a deal with the luxury movie theater company iPic, a theater which promises on its website to provide “Your Night, Your Way.”

With this partnership comes an in-theaters release of at least 10 Netflix original films at the same time they release on the streaming 
platform.

This move makes sense for Netflix. They have long been fighting against Hollywood’s “theatrical window” — the perceived amount of time that must pass between a movie coming out in theaters and coming out on streaming platforms. For Netflix, a theatrical window means nothing, while for many film companies the window is what separates a good movie from a bad movie.

As in, a bad movie would be available online much sooner than a good movie.

Another reason it makes sense is that Netflix has become a big part of our livesbigger than live television or expensive movie theater showings. Having the Netflix originals shown in theaters alongside more traditional Hollywood releases seems, well, normal.

An in-theater option for viewing Netflix originals could also draw audiences out into the public to share the experience with others. We know we aren’t the only ones who have canceled plans with actual human beings in favor of finishing that new Tig Notaro documentary by ourselves in our beds.

One of the problems, however, with this luxury theater partnership is that its luxury is what makes it rather unattainable for much of Netflix’s audience — poor, ramen-eating college students who share a password with like three other people from their finite class.

iPic Theaters tickets are expensive. Even for “members” of the Super Elite iPic Inner Circle, tickets can be up to $29 — and that doesn’t include any of the fancy food options they offer.

The theaters are also hard to find. There are only 15 scattered across the country.

And we’re a little bit too scrappy to spend that much money on a ticket and gas to road trip to a movie theater.

So, while Netflix is perhaps doing something right by reaching out into other avenues for people to view their products, they should not expect much of a response from their existing audience.

But this could just be the beginning for our favorite entertainment streaming provider. Netflix started as a movie rental service, then switched to all streaming subscriptions. Now, they have theater and online releases on the same day.

iPic could be a stepping stone into partnerships with other movie theaters that are less costly and more readily available to consumers.

If Netflix in theaters becomes the norm, we could eventually be looking at House of Cards premieres akin to the midnight releases of the Harry Potter movies.

The potential for Netflix to generate that kind of community excitement in a public space is definitely something the film industry should watch out for.

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe