, a 10-year Sony veteran who previously spent 18 years making films at Fox, spoke to Insider about his commitment to the theatrical window and his thoughts on AMC's dynamic seat pricing. He also shared his fight to produce original movies beyond the comic book franchises as big-spending tech interlopers like Apple and Amazon continue to put the squeeze on legacy players.
Very personally, I think it's a very ill-timed maneuver. I did not think it was wise at all. The movie business is coming back really well now. Last year there was COVID and then Omicron, and production had slowed down — last year was fits and starts. There would be good weeks and less good weeks. Really from Christmas on it's been terrific. The box office is up significantly over last year and it has really good momentum.
Everyone has realized the value of theatrical windows, and you're going to see it for streamers, but those of us in the theatrical business know windows are valuable because the theatrical experience is valuable, and it makes the product more valuable downstream when you've achieved the cultural penetration that comes with a theatrical release.
We are content-driven and platform-agnostic. We don't have our own general entertainment streaming services and so we're not hostage to that — and that means we can create the most value for our individual content and the most value for our slate. It was a long-term deal so I don't think we have to confront that yet, but it's gone terrifically for us, actually. Our movies appear on Netflix in America in the Pay-1 window [the first window after theatrical release, usually six to 12 months]. They come with large cultural awareness like"Uncharted," and,"Where the Crawdads Sing" and"Bullet Train." We are routinely in their top charts.