It's no secret that Netflix doesn't really like to give its movies the big-screen treatment, but one of the stars of what will surely be the streamer's biggest movies of 2025 is calling on the team to change its mind.
Speaking with Variety, Daniel Craig revealed that he wants the streamer to give "Knives Out 3" — Rian Johnson's next movie in the whodunit series — more of a chance at the movies than the one-week limited run that "Glass Onion" got back in 2022.
"Hopefully, Netflix will push it out a bit, and people will get to see it," Craig said. "The people I speak to — the fans, I suppose — all they want to do is take their families and go see it at the cinemas. That’s all they want to do. Hopefully, we can give them that experience.”
As a "Knives Out" fan myself, I'm definitely hoping that Craig's wish comes true: I am one of those fans who want to see "Wake Up Dead Man" in theaters if I can. But to be truthful, I really do think Netflix should be willing to extend a theatrical release to even more of its movies. Here's why.
The argument against a Netflix box office push
Whether or not "Knives Out 3" gets that big push remains to be seen, but it's unlikely. Fact is, earlier this year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos affirmed this attitude in a presentation, calling the theatrical release '"a fairly inefficient way to distribute some movies".
To be fair, I understand the argument that Sarandos is making. The obvious popularity of streaming has fundamentally changed the way people engage with movies and TV shows.
Netflix has such a colossal subscriber base that it doesn't need theaters to push its movies. They can just show a clip of their upcoming release on the home page, and immediately market it to literally millions of subscribers the minute they next boot up the app.
Given all the best streaming services need to constantly drop new stuff to justify their monthly fees, it would simply be impossible (and too expensive) to bring every movie to the big screen, and I also appreciate that Netflix can't wait for theatrical and Premium Video-On-Demand release windows to pass in between must-watches.
Okay, so why SHOULD Netflix bring more movies to big screen?
Despite understanding why the streamer foregoes the hassle and expense of the theatrical release so frequently, I still maintain that Netflix should have confidence that theatrical releases could help make their movies into even bigger hits.
Where there's a chance of definite appeal, Netflix should be willing to give movies of a certain level of quality some sort of release. And I'm not just talking about during awards season.
I firmly believe some of Netflix's best movies of 2024 — titles like "Rebel Ridge" and "His Three Daughters" — could well have stuck around in the cultural consciousness longer if viewers had had the chance to see them in theaters. Instead, they drop, get a shot at staying in the Netflix Top 10, and then disappear into an ever-growing, ever-changing content library, only to be surfaced by the almighty algorithm or repeat viewers.
Sure, those movies probably wouldn't have made "Inside Out 2" money ($1.6 billion), but I reckon you could expect a feasible return. Case in point, the first "Knives Out" was a surprise hit, bringing in more than $300 million. Now that it's a big, well-known entity, "Wake Up Dead Man" could well end up being an even bigger hit, right?
There's also the argument that I'm sure lots of moviegoers would like to watch something in the highest quality possible. I'm willing to wager that most of us (myself included) don't have access to cinema-level tech in our living rooms, so the best way to watch new stuff is still going to be taking a trip to the movies. There, you get to lose yourself in a massive screen, without distractions, and buffeted by surround sound: full immersion.
If you feel the same way, there's a chance that things might change on the horizon: IndieWire reports that Greta Gerwig and Netflix are discussing bringing her "Narnia" movie to IMAX screens ahead of the holidays for anywhere between three to five weeks.
Being both a fan of Greta Gerwig and fantasy, I remain hugely excited to see her take on C. S. Lewis' books, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see it all in IMAX.
In my mind, something of this scope and scale belongs on the big screen. While I wasn't old enough to witness the original release of "The Lord of The Rings," I wish my first experience of Helm's Deep or the ride of the Rohirrim had been a big-screen viewing. I've since seen the entire trilogy in theaters and can confirm that nothing compares to the big-screen fantasy experience.
With the cost of the average movie theater trip (and literally everything else in life) only going up, I get that my vision is unlikely. Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that Netflix does indeed experiment with the box office again soon. Should a deal be struck for either "Knives Out 3" or "Narnia," rest assured, Netflix: I'll be seated, day one.
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