Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos Talks Theatrical Experience in New Interview
Ted Sarandos discussed the demise of the theatrical experience and the rise of at-home streaming services, particularly Netflix, at the TIME100 Summit in New York on Wednesday.
TIME magazine editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs began the interview by stating, “Things do not look so good in the entertainment industry. The box office is down. The L.A. film business is shaky. People are out of work. Your competitors’ market share is sinking, but Netflix business is thriving. Have you destroyed Hollywood?”
“No, we’re saving Hollywood,” Sarandos smiled.
The Netflix CEO explained how the company is focused on its consumer preferences. He expressed, “We really do care that we deliver the programming to you in a way you want to watch it; that it’s programming that you love and desire.”
He argued that a slow box office demonstrates that consumers want to watch films at home.
Jacobs clarified, “So when someone gets up at the Oscars and says, ‘We need to make movies for movie theaters, for the communal experience,’ that’s just an outmoded idea?”
Sarados responded, “I believe it is an outmoded idea for most people, not for everybody. If you are fortunate enough to live in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.”
ted sarandos does not care abt the viewer’s confit. he just wants your money and is desperate bc Netflix’s viewership is down https://t.co/v545qqPaH0
— tam:) (@mynameistamera) April 24, 2025
However, Sarados is not completely against the theatrical experience. Jacobs brings up that director Daniel Craig wants Knives Out 3, titled Wake Up Dead Man, in theaters, and Greta Gerwig wants her upcoming Narnia film on the big screen. As these are Netflix films, Sarados notes, “We have these bespoke releases… we have to do some qualification for the Oscars, so they have to run for a little bit. It helps with the press cycle a little bit, because the press likes to talk about movies and theaters, too.”
Sarados also acknowledges that Netflix owns theaters. The Paris Theater in New York City was Manhattan’s last single-screen theater. Sarados expresses, “It was about to become a Walgreens, and we saved it.”
“And we didn’t save it to save the theater business, we saved it to save the theater experience,” he added.
Jacobs tied the discussion back to how it started and acknowledged that Netflix impacts theaters’ survival and the theatrical experience. He asked Sarandos, “Does that bother you?”
People are making a real big deal about Ted Sarandos, the CEO of a streaming company that is in competition with studios that utilize the movie theater model, publicly undermining the movie theater model…
— Dandy (@bullzeyeno1) April 24, 2025
Sarandos answered, “No. What would really bother me is if people stopped making great movies. And I think if we get trapped behind this way of how we want people to watch them versus how they want to watch them, then people won’t be able to make movies anymore because there won’t be a business for it.”
