Although director Rian Johnson has partnered with Netflix for two sequels to his 2019 hit Knives Out, that doesn’t mean he agrees with the company on everything. While promoting the second season of Poker Face, Johnson told Business Insider that he doesn’t agree with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos’ recent comments about movie theaters.
During a recent interview, Sarandos suggested that the movie theater model was “outdated,” and that Netflix’s streaming model was simply giving consumers what they want. Johnson, meanwhile, said that he wants his next Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, to play in as many theaters as possible.
“Obviously I don’t [agree],” Johnson said when asked to respond to Sarandos’ comment. “I love movies. I love going to see movies. But also, I have a feeling talking to Ted, it would be a different thing than one quote taken and kind of tossed at me in this context. So, I don’t want to phrase this as I’m having a proxy discussion with Ted right here.”
“I think theatrical is not going anywhere,” the director said, noting that movies like Sinners and A Minecraft Movie had proven recently how theatrical movies can be successful. “We’ve seen if you put a movie people want to see in the theaters, they are going to show up for it, and that experience of being in a full house and having that experience is so important. It’s something that I love and I want more of in the world.”
Sarandos’ original comments occurred at the Time100 Summit, where he said “We’re in a period of transition. Folks grew up thinking, ‘I want to make movies on a gigantic screen and have strangers watch them [and to have them] play in the theater for two months and people cry and sold-out shows.’ … It’s an outdated concept.”
