Dear Gossips,
As we learned last month, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi will star in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights from Emerald Fennell. A new report from Variety states the film prompted a bidding war, with Netflix offering $150 million for it, but Robbie, who is producing the film as well as starring in it, led the filmmakers in declining Netflix’s gargantuan offer. Instead, they’ve opted to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery, who paid a reported $80 million for the pleasure and offered a “wide theatrical release and full marketing campaign”.
I have my issues with WBD, but FINALLY a filmmaker put their money where their mouth is and turned down Netflix in favor of a theatrical release. The pattern we usually see is that filmmakers preach the power of the communal experience, only to turn around and sell their films to Netflix, which does not grant films wide theatrical releases. (I’m never getting over Richard Linklater standing on stage at TIFF, sh-t talking Netflix, and then selling Hit Man to Netflix.)
And let’s be clear, Robbie and Fennell have the means to turn down $150 million. Robbie made a reported $50 million from Barbie alone, and Amazon bought Saltburn for $75 million, some of which would go to Robbie via her LuckyChap production shingle, but some to Emerald Fennell, too. These are rich people, they have the luxury of picking and choosing who they work with, which is my point—if you have the ability to choose where you work, use it. Don’t be yet another actor/filmmaker who takes a f-ck ton of Netflix money and then complains when Netflix doesn’t put your film in theaters. I asked a Netflix buyer once why this keeps happening, and she said it’s because everyone thinks they’ll be the special snowflake who convinces Netflix to send their movie to 2,000 theaters for ninety days, but that has yet to happen.
For instance, Netflix’s two big Oscar movies are Emilia Perez and Maria. Both are playing in limited theatrical releases for two weeks before premiering on the platform. And that’s for Jacques Audiard and Pablo Larraín, two widely admired filmmakers, and their films star big names like Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Angelina Jolie. And still, those films are playing in less than 200 theaters for a couple weeks. Netflix is not in the theatrical business. They don’t WANT to be in the theatrical business.
But they might have to get into it, if top talent starts saying no. If their nine-figure deals lose their appeal, if more people follow in Margot and Emerald’s footsteps, it might force Netflix to start bargaining with better release plans. It’s already happening with Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation, which is due in 2026. She signed a deal with Netflix to make a new Narnia adaptation just before Barbie came out, and now, on the other side of that success and with the Wuthering Heights team putting Netflix on the backfoot, Gerwig has some leverage to get a better theatrical release for her film.
Apparently, they’re bartering over IMAX screens, of which there are about 1,800 globally. Sources in the Variety article say that Netflix is either looking at putting Narnia into all the IMAX theaters, or only a fraction. In the end, it will probably be somewhere in between. I bet Narnia ends up with a two-week release on a few hundred IMAX screens. Better than nothing, but Netflix will resist being pushed into the theatrical business, because if they give one filmmaker their wish for a wider theatrical release, then they’re going to have to give everyone that. And again, that’s not the business they’re in.
Which is why it’s on the filmmakers to walk away from Netflix, if and when they can. If theatrical release isn’t so important to you, by all means, take the money and run. But if you want your film to be seen widely in theaters, you have to know Netflix won’t give you that, and no, you won’t be the magical exception. If you want your film to play in theaters, then you have to deal with a studio that will put it in theaters. Now that Margot Robbie and Emerald Fennell have set the example, I wonder how many others will follow suit?
Here's Margot out in LA yesterday with her newborn.
Live long and gossip,
Sarah
