Key Takeaways:

– Netflix's Ted Sarandos believes the box office smashes, Barbie and Oppenheimer, would have experienced the same success on Netflix.
– Sarandos suggests that the choice of screen size for viewing doesn't inherently dictate the quality of a movie.
– Sarandos offers an interesting comparison between box office sales and streaming views, highlighting the possible potential of streaming platforms.
– The competitiveness between the two movies may have contributed to their success at the box office.

Netflix's head honcho, Ted Sarandos, recently made an interesting assessment about the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, the blockbuster hits of 2023. In a conversation with The New York Times, he opined that these films would have garnered similar attention and viewership had they premiered on Netflix instead of the theatres. His remarks sparked a conversation revolving around the ongoing evolution of movie viewing experiences and the platforms that facilitate them.

The Power of Streaming

Sarandos was quick to discard the notion that there's a link between the cinematic experience, the success of a movie, and the screen size. On the contrary, he opined that certain movies don't inherently work better just because they are watched in a theatre or on a larger screen.

To illustrate his viewpoint, Sarandos shared anecdotal evidence about his son, a 28-year-old editor, who watched the iconic movie Lawrence of Arabia on his phone. Although watching grand films like these on a phone may seem sacrilegious to movie purists, Sarandos argued that the end-user preference should reign supreme.

Breaking Down the Numbers

Comparing box office numbers to streaming views can be quite challenging due to the difference in measuring metrics. Yet Sarandos made an attempt with figures readily available. Barbie clocked in 59 million tickets while Oppenheimer managed to sell 30 million tickets.

Making the assumption that one ticket equates to one view, Sarandos pointed towards the whopping 230.9 million views that Red Notice, Netflix's most-viewed movie, reported. Such statistics do seem to validate Sarandos' point about high potential viewership for quality content on streaming services.

The Barbenheimer Factor

What bears consideration, however, is the beneficial rivalry created between Barbie and Oppenheimer by their shared release date. This competitive environment, dubbed the ‘Barbenheimer' phenomenon, likely contributed to the box office accomplishments of both films. Would this dynamic have been replicated if the movies were premiered in separate households' living rooms through a streaming platform? That remains dubious.

The conversation that Sarandos initiated is clearly about more than Barbie and Oppenheimer's success. It's about the evolving paradigm of movie consumption. With streaming platforms becoming more dominant, the values that we attach to certain experiences like watching a movie might be undergoing a transition.

Is Sarandos' claim about the likely triumph of Barbie and Oppenheimer on Netflix valid? The answer may rest largely on personal perspectives about what constitutes a worthwhile viewing experience. Even so, it's hard to ignore the implications of this discourse on the future of movie production and distribution.