Last week, after learning Netflix backed away from a deal to purchase independent cinema chain Landmark Theatres, we heard rumors the streamer was instead looking to buy the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Those rumors appear to be true: Netflix is on the cusp of closing a deal to purchase the 97-year-old theater, Variety reports. Right now, the Egyptian is owned and maintained by nonprofit organization American Cinemathique (where Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos is a board member).
If and when the deal closes, Netflix will have ownership, but will only use the Egyptian during weekdays. Weekends will still belong to American Cinemathique’s programming.
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Overall financial details of the almost-deal have not been disclosed, but it is worth noting that if and when it closes, Netflix plans to dig right in and do restoration work on the Egyptian. The last time the Egyptian underwent major restoration was in 1998, and it cost a reported $12.8 million — so Netflix is probably planning to shell out at least a few million on restorations alone.
For Netflix, buying even a single theater is a smart move. It’d allow the company to simultaneously release its films online for streaming, and screen them in its own venue. That way, Netflix would avoid the window most theaters require, where a distributor must wait a certain amount of time after a film appears in theaters to send it out for home viewing. It would also, of course, help Netflix more easily make its films eligible for major awards, since many of them require movies be shown in theaters.
However, screening its films for awards isn’t at the top of Netflix’s agenda right now, according to Variety. Instead, Netflix will focus on weekday and evening premieres, screenings, panels, and special events for both its original films and its TV series. It’s hosted similar events at the Egyptian (and fellow Los Angeles venues ArcLight Hollywood, NeueHouse, and the Linwood Dunn Theater) in the past to get people hyped for its in-house programming.
Buying the historical, beloved Egyptian rather than pursuing a newer theater or even another chain like Landmark is also a socially strategic move on Netflix’s part. A person familiar with the matter said the planned purchase is meant to show Netflix’s commitment to the preservation of traditional film. That’s important, since longtime Hollywood heavyweights like Steven Spielberg — who’s also big on preserving traditional film — are firmly not in Netflix’s corner.
So firmly, in fact, that Spielberg and other members of the board of governors of the Academy are planning to vote on new rules April 23. Those rules would officially bar any and all films that have streaming debuts or only have short theater runs. In other words, the Academy is specifically out to nerf Netflix, despite a warning from the Department of Justice.
Still, even if those rules are implemented, Netflix may get around them. The streamer is apparently looking at lengthening theater runs ahead of next awards season (in venues that aren’t the Egyptian). That’s because its next — and possibly biggest — awards-bait film is lauded director Martin Scorsese‘s long-awaited film The Irishman. The biographical crime thriller stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and chronicles the events surrounding Jimmy Hoffa‘s death. It’s due out late this year after being in development for more than five years.
