Netflix Lands the Film Rights To Surprising Long-Running Franchise

Remember when Netflix was trying to buy Warner Bros. in a true case of “No matter who wins, we all lose?” It was between them, a streaming giant that hates movie theaters, and Paramount Skydance, a company run by the son of a man who is dead set on helping the current presidential administration in any way possible. In that battle, Netflix seemed like a safer bet, because, at least, CEO Ted Sarandos was out and about claiming that Netflix would be in the movie theater business if they bought Warner Bros. Unsurprisingly, that seems like it was a fat load of crap.

Dan Lin, the chairman of Netflix’s film division, recently said in an interview that the company was staying away from directors who want their movies in movie theaters. “There is a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical. Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted we just won’t work with,” Lin recently told the New York Times. Now, look, there is, of course, a chance that, after losing the bid for Warner Bros., the company doubled down on its anti-theatrical stance. However, I think it’s far more likely that a multi-billion-dollar company was just lying to get what it wanted.

However, just because Netflix isn’t in the movie theater business doesn’t mean it isn’t trying to churn them out. After a year of bidding, the company acquired the feature film rights for Sesame Street, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The company already owns the television rights, purchasing them last year, but this will allow them to make even more with the friendly monsters. Rideback, who has made the live-action Aladdin and Lilo & Stitch movies, will produce the Sesame Street feature.

As someone who saw The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in a theater when he was maybe a smidge too old (but still had a great time), this is bittersweet news. I’m happy that there may be a new Sesame Street film, but having it contained to my screen at home stinks. Also, apparently, Universal was the other top contender, and that movie would have been produced by Phil Lord & Chris Miller, and The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)! That probably would have been a pretty fun movie!

Instead, we’ll get something likely designed to hit the right algorithmic categories and nothing more. I can blame Netflix, but Warner Bros. deserves a little grief, too. That company apparently had the film rights for around a decade and did bupkis with them. What the heck was going on over there?! Why has that company been operated like a money laundering front for most of its existence?!?!