What does the first official Netflix cinema mean for Hollywood?
It’s more than a little ironic. The company that made watching movies at home so easy you didn’t even have to get up and go to a video store is opening a cinema.
Well, “opening” maybe isn’t the correct term, so much as “preventing a closure”. Netflix has fixed a new lease for the Paris Theater in New York, causing a moment of existential crisis for cinephiles. On the one hand, the streamer can easily be positioned as a wrecking ball bashing its way through film culture. On the other hand, who else has the pockets to keep the lights on at this place?
The Paris, a jewel case cinema in a rather photogenic part of midtown Manhattan, shut its doors in August after 70 years in business. If you have never been to New York and only know it from the movies, the theater is catty-corner to the Plaza hotel and across from the south-eastern entrance to Central Park. Around the corner is Fifth Avenue, where you will find Tiffany & Co and Bergdorf Goodman.
“After 71 years, the Paris Theater has an enduring legacy, and remains the destination for a one-of-a kind moviegoing experience,” said Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos. “We are incredibly proud to preserve this historic New York institution so it can continue to be a cinematic home for film lovers.”
The 581-seat theater, the last single screen in the city, has an elegant interior, with blue velvet seats and a purplehued curtain, as well as a cozy balcony. Its first owner was Pathé and it originally showed French language films. Marlene Dietrich and the ambassador to France cut the ribbon in 1948 before a screening of La Symphonie Pastorale. The theater was picketed by angry Catholics led by Cardinal Spellman during a 1951 showing of Roberto Rossellini’s The Miracle, in which Anna Magnani plays a pregnant woman convinced she is carrying Christ.
In recent years, however, the Paris has made curious programming choices. While one wouldn’t expect to see Avengers there (how gauche!) the arthouse picks were rarely the ones in the movie-lover conversation (it was showing Ron Howard’s easily forgotten documentary Pavarotti when it shuttered). Moreover, it eschewed repertory titles, which was just throwing money away. What tourist wouldn’t want to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s in a classy auditorium inches away from the actual location?
Netflix is already utilizing the theater for its showcase release of Noah Baumbach’s Oscar-tipped divorce saga Marriage Story. (Across town, the Belasco, a Broadway house between productions, is screening The Irishman). The announcement of the purchase states that the company intends to use it for special events (no more renting other theaters for premieres) as well as screenings.
Undoubtedly this will aid in the company’s recruitment of top shelf directors who yearn for that opening night vibe, especially at the spot where Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet played for an entire year back in the day. Baumbach, at a recent post-screening Q&A at the Paris, gushed to Indiewire’s Eric Kohn about the importance of the theatrical experience beyond the obvious special effects-driven titles. “What you lose … is the communal experience of seeing something funny or sad,” he said of only watching films at home.
A source familiar with the company’s decision stressed that this wasn’t only for awards season. Netflix had upwards of 30 titles that had theatrical runs this year, even if some were tucked away for short runs at small US chains like iPic. These runs will not cease with the purchase, but it will be interesting to watch the politics of what gets a Paris perch.
While the Paris will be the goto for special events, the source continued, it will remain open to the public on a random Tuesday in March. Additionally, the programming concepts are “looking to get creative” with the entirety of Netflix’s slate, not just narrative feature films. “It all happened rather quickly, the theater only shut down in August,” the insider said. There is also nothing new to report about longstanding rumors of Netflix buying The Egyptian in Los Angeles. Also, there are no current plans to alter the interior. The Paris, remember, is blue; Netflix is red!
“I think it’s great,” a programmer at a competing New York City arthouse not permitted to make public statements about Netflix told me. “The Paris Theater is an institution and I’m glad it’s showing movies again, regardless of the owner. It’s a sign that Netflix is serious about film exhibition, and not just when it’s convenient to satisfy a contractual obligation.”
Netflix has no shortage of movies that are deserving of theatrical treatment, but time will tell how they round out their calendar. This has been a standout year for them (Dolemite Is My Name and The Two Popes are worthy contenders alongside The Irishman and Marriage Story) but the week-to-week releases can sometimes come up lacking. There’s hope that Netflix might get to spotlight some of their outstanding documentaries, or dig into their own growing vault to give something like Okja or The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) a day in the sun. Because throwaway movies such as American Son, The Red Sea Diving Resort, Rim of the World or How It Ends aren’t going to suddenly get good because of blue velvet seats.