A Netflix executive believes Oppenheimer would have been just as successful on streaming as it was in theaters. The movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, won Best Picture and received high praise from critics. It hit theaters on the same day as Barbie in 2023, creating the famous “Barbenheimer” moment. While Barbie made more money, Oppenheimer still earned nearly $1 billion worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing film of the year.
In an interview with Puck, Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, shared her thoughts on the film’s success. When asked if Oppenheimer would have been as big on Netflix, she confidently said yes. She explained that Netflix would have given it a strong promotional push, ensuring a huge audience.
Yes. We would have done an amazing qualifying run. So many people obviously would have watched it. It was a great movie. And I think it would have had that.
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After the disagreement, the executive explained that their goal is to “make great movies on Netflix” and that most films don’t need to be released in theaters.
We’re going to totally disagree about this. And here’s the thing. There’s a lot of people who love going to the movies. I love going to the movies. It’s just, we want to make great movies on Netflix. This idea of, everything theatrical is bigger and lasting, you have to think about all those other movies except for the four or five we just talked about.
Many fans would have been upset if Oppenheimer had been a Netflix movie. Christopher Nolan’s films, like Inception, Dunkirk, and The Dark Knight trilogy, are known for their massive scale and stunning visuals. He films with IMAX cameras, making sure his movies look best on giant theater screens. His work follows the idea that “bigger is better” in theaters, which is why many people prefer to watch them on the big screen instead of at home.
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Bajaria’s claim that theaters aren’t that important could impact how Netflix handles its future movies. The company owns the rights to Greta Gerwig’s Narnia films, and the first one is set to release in IMAX. Netflix has given some films, like Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, a short time in theaters before adding them to streaming, but those runs don’t last long. Based on Bajaria’s comments about Oppenheimer, Netflix might not focus much on big theatrical releases, even for movies that get a brief run in cinemas.
Anyone who watched Oppenheimer in IMAX would likely disagree with Bajaria. While movie theaters are still recovering from the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, streaming has become a major competitor.
That doesn’t mean streaming movies aren’t good or well-made, but watching a film in a theater is a completely different experience. It shouldn’t be ignored. Also, Oppenheimer became a huge hit for many reasons that Netflix couldn’t have recreated, like the Barbenheimer craze that helped drive people to theaters.