The creator’s Landman finishes its second season as the top show on Paramount+ and up about 50 percent from Season 1, despite all the haters. Nielsen is a few weeks behind, but it reported 1.6 billion minutes viewed in the week of December 15, trailing only Stranger Things, which had more than twice as many episodes, while Luminate put Landman at 1.3 billion minutes for the week of January 3.

A little more: Given the Sheridan numbers, it’s still remarkable how Paramount’s David Ellison and Cindy Holland have treated that relationship. Sheridan has nearly three years before he takes his TV deal to NBCUniversal, but Holland canceled the hit Mayor of Kingstown against Sheridan’s wishes and shortened its final season. She still hasn’t ordered a new show from Sheridan since taking over last summer. And she is said to be questioning the successful rollout strategy for the shows and moving stuff around, although in consultation with Sheridan and producer 101 Studios. (Let’s see when the about-to-shoot Samuel L. Jackson series NOLA King, which has been retitled Frisco King, actually airs.) Overall, it seems Par+ will soon be home to less Sheridan, even before he leaves.

“lol zero spooked, sorry” —Rian Johnson, the Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmmaker, responding on Twitter/X to a claim by Lucasfilm’s Kathy Kennedy that he never made his planned trilogy in part because he was “spooked by the online negativity.”

Runner-up: “‘We want people to stay tuned in. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.’” —Matt Damon, recounting to Joe Rogan a Netflix instruction for making action films for the platform.

And speaking of Netflix…

Ted Sarandos really wants us to believe him. Pretty much since the morning after he signed the deal to buy Warner Bros., the Netflix co-C.E.O. has been asking anyone who will listen how he can convince them that he will continue to release Warners movies in theaters. Ted was keen to ask me when I bumped into him at a party over Golden Globes weekend, and others I’ve spoken with say he’s quizzed them similarly. He knows the town is skeptical of his plans for the studio, not to mention the regulators in this country and elsewhere who will scrutinize this $83 billion deal for many reasons, the impact on theaters among them.

Then, boom, Ted sits down with the Times last week to declare his intentions publicly once again. “We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows,” Sarandos told reporter Nicole Sperling, likely previewing what he will say on tomorrow’s earnings call. “I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people—we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.”

Sounds convincing, right? Never mind Sarandos’s past dismissal of theatrical windows as anti-consumer, or his argument that waiting longer than a couple weeks to drop a movie on Netflix doesn’t make sense for a streaming business. (The major theater chains won’t play Netflix movies for that reason.) Now, after getting a look at the Warner Bros. financials, Ted has changed his mind—and, we are told, it has nothing to do with convincing the government to bless this deal and getting his hands on that valuable Warners I.P. and library. “The general economics of the theatrical business were more positive than we had seen and we had modeled for ourselves,” Sarandos said. “It’s a healthy, profitable business for them. We weren’t in that business not because we hated it. We weren’t in that business because our business was doing so well.”

Naturally, I was curious what theater owners thought of Ted’s comments, especially that explicit promise of a 45-day window. After all, their lobbying group, Cinema United, has said the threat posed by Netflix buying Warners is “grave—and possibly even existential—given its hostility toward exhibition.” So on Friday I called up Eduardo Acuna, the C.E.O. of Regal Cineworld Group, the country’s second-largest chain, with more than 5,000 screens. Acuna is usually pretty measured, and true to form he said he’s “cautiously encouraged” that Sarandos has indeed switched religions and now believes in theaters… even though Ted’s incentivized to say whatever he needs to say to get this deal done. “That’s why I’m putting the word cautiously in front of encouraged,” Acuna continued. “I think once they looked under the hood of Warner Bros. they saw that [theatrical] was a good thing. And no one is going to pay $80 billion for an asset not expecting a return.”

But… Acuna has some follow-up questions for Sarandos, and like many in town, he would like to hear more specifics. For instance, is Ted’s promise of a 45-day window sufficient for Regal to play Netflix/Warners movies? “Yes, if that 45-day window is to transactional video-on-demand,” Acuna said. “If he’s referencing V.O.D., I think that’s an acceptable window. My concern—and this is something that not enough people talk about—is that there are two windows. One to transactional and one to subscription. Netflix is subscription. If the 45-day window is to subscription, it’s very damaging to the industry, to the consumers, to moviegoers.”

Was Ted talking about V.O.D. or Netflix/HBO Max? A Netflix rep told me the Warners movies would continue their current windows to HBO and HBO Max, which is usually 47 days to V.O.D. and 78 days (11 weeks) to HBO Max, with adjustments made depending on the title. Superman, for instance, went to V.O.D. after 35 days, and smaller movies or bombs like The Alto Knights often go to V.O.D. and S.V.O.D. much sooner. “If he means 45 days to Netflix, that’s not good enough,” Acuna added.

The theater owners care a lot about the perception of value in movies. That’s why they’re much more accepting of a shorter V.O.D. window—people are still paying for the movie, even if it’s at home. Original made-for-TV movies have been popular at home since the first M.O.W.s began generating tens of millions of viewers in the late ’60s. But they were always lesser—lesser stars, lesser budgets, lesser ambition. Netflix was the first business model that supported M.O.W.s with A-list stars and filmmakers, that can win Oscars, and that cost $100 million or even $200 million to make. And now, Netflix movies are perceived as basically free on a service that most members consider a utility. Sarandos told the Times that he “did not get in this business to hurt the theatrical business. I got into this business to help consumers, to help movie fans.” But he certainly altered that perception of value of movies. Even five years ago, this past weekend’s big theatrical release would have been The Rip, a Matt Damon–Ben Affleck thriller that cost around $100 million. Now it’s a Netflix title that likely impacted the weekend’s actual theatrical release, Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and made it seem less valuable, less worthy of theaters since a big, star-driven action pic is available for “free” at home.

Acuna knows this. So, I asked him what else Sarandos could say to change that perception and convince exhibitors he’s serious about theaters for Warner Bros.? “There has to be a commitment to, let’s say, 15 to 20 wide releases [per year], with meaningful marketing budgets,” Acuna said. That’s more than the 11 movies Warners released theatrically in the U.S. in 2025, a number that included handling F1 for Apple, but Warners has 17 currently planned for this year. Then there’s the length of this so-called commitment. Sarandos can make big promises now, but once this deal closes, there’s nothing to stop Netflix from backsliding after a couple years or even a couple months. “This cannot be a two-year [commitment],” Acuna told me. “This has to be a 10-year commitment. And this should be a contract. This has to be binding, probably by the government, probably by the D.O.J., etcetera.”

Antitrust regulators typically prefer placing conditions on deals that require actions before a deal closes, like when Disney was asked to divest its regional sports networks before buying most of Fox. Disney was never asked to keep putting a certain amount of Fox movies in theaters. But it does happen, like when Live Nation bought Ticketmaster and was forbidden from retaliating against venues using rival ticketers, among other conditions in the consent decree. “There are so many things that will happen before the D.O.J. closes,” Acuna predicted.

As we chatted, Acuna mentioned a great idea: If Netflix has indeed discovered how great a business theatrical distribution is for Warners, and if Sarandos wants everyone in Hollywood to believe he’s not just paying lip service to get a deal done, why not demonstrate that commitment now? “Why don’t they give 45 days to Narnia and show it in every format, not only Imax?” Acuna asked. After all, Greta Gerwig pressed hard for some kind of theatrical window for her upcoming big-budget adaptation, and Sarandos fought her and fought her until he finally relented and offered two weeks on 1,000 Imax screens this Thanksgiving, after which the film will debut on Netflix on Christmas.

That’s far short of a 45-day window, and a much more limited theatrical footprint than Gerwig and theater owners would prefer. Now that Sarandos believes in the Warners model, why not go wide with a bigger window—that would give everyone a taste of what Sarandos says he’s got planned for Warners releases. “Narnia looks more like a Warner Bros. movie than a Netflix movie,” Acuna continued. “Consumers would love that, Greta Gerwig would love that. I don’t see who wouldn’t love that.”

Would Sarandos love that? Probably not. He’d argue the wide theatrical release model is good for Warners, with its specialized infrastructure and expertise, not for Netflix. But it’s hard to maintain that position when Netflix has had success with theatrical stunts for everything from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in 2022 to Frankenstein and the KPop Demon Hunters singalong last year. Plus, such a gesture—Acuna could call it a true acknowledgment of the benefits of a theatrical release—would get Netflix a lot of positive attention. And with regulators circling and Paramount refusing to go away, it might actually make a difference in the long run.

16.1 percent
Year-over-year decline in shoot days in Los Angeles, with TV and feature production down 21.9 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively [FilmLA]

900 million
Recent attendance milestone at Disneyland, per a new documentary on its 70th anniversary. [L.A. Times]

$600,000
Cost per episode for HBO Max to license Canadian hit Heated Rivalry in the U.S. [N.Y. Times]

5.1 trillion
Global on-demand audio song streams in 2025, up 9.6 percent year-over-year. [Luminate]

The feel-good story of how YouTuber Mark Fischbach got his movie booked in 2,500 locations and counting. [IndieWire]

The news isn’t that Matthew McConaughey is seeking federal trademark protection to combat A.I. misuse, it’s that many big-name actors still aren’t doing this. [WSJ]

Ooof: Peter Chernin is merging his North Road production company with France’s Mediawan at a valuation far less than the $1 billion it got in a 2023 investment. [Bloomberg]

The ESPYs are moving to New York and becoming a preparty of sorts for Michael Rubin’s Fanatics Fest. Also, the ESPYs still exist. [Puck]

Why are even the biggest YouTubers so worried about the platform? [New York]

Gap Inc. is going Hollywood with former Paramount exec Pam Kaufman. A Michael Bay Banana Republic movie. You’re welcome. [Adweek]

Chinatown is a worthy No. 1 on the L.A. Times list of the 101 best L.A. movies, though Babylon at 101 seems deliberate. [L.A. Times]

We’ve reached the point in the Bari Weiss news cycle where she hires crisis P.R. guru Matthew Hiltzik to handle an unflattering New Yorker profile. Sigh. [Puck]

CNBC’s excellent Julia Boorstin has a new show interviewing leaders, and Ted Sarandos’s preferred leadership book is not what I would’ve expected. [CNBC]

Kathy Kennedy’s exit at Lucasfilm, Netflix’s big Sony movies deal, and my interview with SAG-AFTRA’s top negotiator all sparked interesting responses…

“Thank you for discussing how difficult it is to do anything other than down-the-middle fan service within the Disney empire. The mismanagement of the Star Wars movies certainly falls on Kennedy, but starting with his initial unsustainable mandate of one movie a year to his longstanding disinterest in where that might push the storytelling creatively, [film chief] Alan [Bergman] and [Disney C.E.O.] Bob [Iger] are just as responsible for the sorry state of the franchise.” —A producer

“She’s gone! What will you do with your life now?” —An executive

“I love how she spoke about the Ben Solo movie (a movie we know is dead) alongside all the other movies we’ve been hearing about. I imagine they are all dead at this point. Hopefully things turn around at the studio, though one can’t help but feel like Star Wars’s best days are behind it.” —Another producer

“In six months, after Paramount officially fails in their quest for WB: ‘Larry, I have Ted on line one asking about a Pay One deal. Shall I patch him through or let him know you are sticking with that streaming thing we have?’” —A professor

“This is in response to your interview with Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. I’m still waiting for him to answer your question about what SAG-AFTRA gained in negotiations that was worth shutting down the business for as long as they did.” —A manager

Pixar’s Hoppers is registering only slightly more interest than last year’s bomb Elio in the latest early tracking report from The Quorum…

In honor of National Popcorn Day, enjoy this photo sent to me by AMC Theatres C.E.O. Adam Aron, the largest popcorn buyer in the country. He’s posing on an Illinois corn farm…

Have a great week,
Matt

Maya Tribbitt contributed research to today’s issue.

Got a question, comment, complaint, or new Park City restaurant recs? Email me at Matt@puck.news or call/text me at 310-804-3198.

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