Asked today if — amid shrinking theatrical windows, sagging box office receipts and production fleeing L.A. —Netflix has destroyed Hollywood, the company’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos replied, “No, we’re saving Hollywood.”
Sarandos made the remarks at the TIME100 Summit. He went on to describe Netflix as “a very consumer-focused company. We deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it.”
Referring to declining box office he asked rhetorically, “What is the consumer trying to tell us?” He then answered his own question: “That they’d like to watch movies at home.”
Of the communal aspect of theatrical moviegoing, the Netflix honcho admitted he loved theaters but said of the experience, “I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people — not for everybody.”
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Sarandos also addressed comments he made earlier in the day at Semafor’s World Economy Summit about hurdles that entertainment companies often face — even without President Trump’s tariff regimes — that go beyond those that other industries face, among then quotas and co-production requirements in China.
“What I was saying is, it’s often that the entertainment industry doesn’t get treated like a real business, and that’s one of the examples of it.”
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