Associated Press
- Netflix announced on Tuesday that Martin Scorsese’s "The Irishman" will debut in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles on November 1.
- It will expand to more theaters across the US and in international cities in the following weeks before becoming available to stream on Netflix on November 27.
- But it won’t be playing at theaters owned by major theater chains like AMC and Cineplex, according to Deadline.
- The New York Times reported last week that discussions between Netflix and major chains had been "dragging on for months."
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Netflix is giving Martin Scorsese’s latest Oscar hopeful, "The Irishman," the biggest theatrical release yet for one of its original movies, but audiences won’t be able to see it at major theater chains.
The streaming giant announced Tuesday that "The Irishman" would make its theatrical debut on November 1 in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The movie will roll out to more screens across the US and UK on November 8, and then additional US and international cities on November 15 and 22. It will become available to stream globally on Netflix on November 27.
That’s the largest theatrical window Netflix has given a movie. But it won’t be playing at theaters owned by major theaters chains such as AMC (the world’s largest movie-theater chain), Regal, Cinemark, or Canadian chain Cineplex, according to Deadline.
Netflix declined to comment on the record. The New York Times reported last week that discussions between Netflix and major chains had been "dragging on for months."
Netflix gave last year’s Oscar contender "Roma" a three-week theatrical window before it debuted on the service. The Times reported last year that Netflix was spending up to $20 million on its Oscars campaign for the movie. But after "Roma" lost best picture in February, Vulture reported the number to be as much as $60 million.
Either way, that’s an astronomical amount of money to spend on an Oscars campaign. With "The Irishman" playing exclusively in theaters for four weeks, Netflix might be preparing to push it even harder during the upcoming awards season than it did "Roma," which ultimately won Oscars for foreign-language film, director, and cinematography.
"The Irishman" will make its world premiere opening night of the New York Film Festival on September 27. Below is Netflix’s official synopsis of the movie:
"Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci star in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman,’ an epic saga of organized crime in post-war America told through the eyes of World War II veteran Frank Sheeran, a hustler and hitman who worked alongside some of the most notorious figures of the 20th century. Spanning decades, the film chronicles one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history, the disappearance of legendary union boss Jimmy Hoffa, and offers a monumental journey through the hidden corridors of organized crime: its inner workings, rivalries and connections to mainstream politics."
See Also:
- Hollywood insiders say Netflix is being more ‘flexible’ with movie theaters, but a wide release for Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ faces an uphill battle
- Netflix’s former head of kids programming explains how family shows stop subscribers from canceling, and who the major streaming buyers are today
- Netflix’s rivals like Amazon and Hulu are slowly eating away at its US market share, and Disney Plus is about to take its seat at the table
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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)