A cinema bought by an international company is not the scenario of a new Netflix series, but the transaction which was made by the empire founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Netflix concluded Friday the acquisition of the Egyptian Theater, legendary cinema located on Hollywood Boulevard, confirming a little more its rank as a major player in the film industry in the United States.
The Los Angeles cinema was built in 1922 and is proud to have hosted the first promotion session ever organized in Hollywood ( Robin Hood , with Douglas Fairbanks in the title role). He had also had the privilege of launching a large number of films from the Golden Age of cinema, such as Chaplin's gold rush or The Ten Commandments .
Film launches and special events
Netflix plans to organize the launch of its films and other special events there. The video-on-demand giant, which has not disclosed the amount of the transaction, will manage the establishment in partnership with the American Cinematheque, a non-profit association which had bought and then renovated the dilapidated cinema in 1996.
Netflix has spent billions of dollars in recent years to attract the big names in the film industry, winning alongside major traditional Hollywood studios to produce remarkable films, such as Roma or The Irishman. Last year, Netflix had already bought a historic New York cinema, the Paris Theater, which had closed.
Pressure continues for streaming giants
Professionals in the sector see these investments as a showdown engaged by the streaming giant with major cinema brands and traditional studios. It is customary in the United States for a period of 90 days to elapse between the release of a film in theaters and its distribution on the Internet. But Netflix and other video-on-demand operators are pushing for the lines to move and have started showing their works in a small number of cinemas for shorter durations.
The Oscars and other cinematographic prizes indeed require that the films have been screened in cinemas for a certain time in order to be able to compete. According to the specialist media IndieWire , Netflix has decided not to present its films this year at major festivals like Venice, Toronto or New York (if they can take place despite the pandemic), preferring to unveil them in independent places . The Egyptian Theater could thus be devolved to this role.
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