Exhibitors are “apprehensive” about “placing too much stock” in Netflix‘s recent pledges to honor traditional theatrical release windows, Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Wednesday.
Speaking to Wall Street analysts on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Gamble said theater owners have taken “some element of encouragement” from comments by Netflix management about theaters. At the same time, exhibitors remain wary of the messages due to “how contradictory they now are to many of the other disparaging remarks that have been made over recent years,” Gamble said. He noted that Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos less than a year ago described theaters as “outmoded for most people.”
Given that history, “I think there’s going to need to be more action versus comments, and firmer assurances to give everybody comfort that what’s being said is real,” Gamble added.
Cinemark fell short of Wall Street earnings estimates in the October-to-December quarter, with Gamble citing a “softer-than-expected” film slate compared with the one in the 2024 period. On a diluted basis, earnings came in at 16 cents a share, down from 33 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Wall Street analysts had expected 24 cents. Revenue fell 5% from the year-ago quarter, reaching $776.3 million, ahead of Street estimates.
After long spurning theaters, Netflix has made a show of embracing them as it looks to seal its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios-and-streaming division. Paramount, a longtime champion of theatrical releasing, has made a hostile bid for all of WBD and began a 7-day window of negotiation with WBD’s board.
Gamble was asked specifically about Netflix’s recent vows to honor a 45-day window for Warner Bros releases in theaters. He called the window “a good target point” but said exhibitors are eager for more clarification.
The stance from Netflix “begs the question of ’45 days to what?’” Gamble said. He noted the difference between a film playing in theaters for 45 days before moving to PVOD or other transactional windows versus a title leaving theaters and going straight onto a subscription streamer. Those in the latter scenario are viewed as “free” by most consumers and are therefore “a different kind of construct,” Gamble added.
“There’s a lot still to clarify with what exactly is being referenced,” he said. “I think we’re all looking for much firmer assurances that are longstanding for not only a window, but levels of continued investment, and also sustained marketing, which is a critical component of this, too, versus just verbal comments and promises.”
Cinemark has conducted multiple tests with Netflix in recent years, giving movies like The Christmas Chronicles 2 and Army of the Dead and the last two Knives Out installments short, nationwide runs. The results have been generally inconclusive, though, and amounted to little more than marketing stunts.
“We’ve been optimistic that in time Netflix would recognize the opportunity that theatrical exhibition provides their platform,” Gamble said, noting that Amazon and “even Apple” seem to recognize the upside. “We thought for a long while there’s just value that was being ignored by not taking advantage of that opportunity.”
As Netflix and Paramount jockey, the situation is “active and fluid,” Gamble said. Individually and via trade group Cinema United, Cinemark has tried to stay in close contact with the companies involved as well as regulators, the exec said, in pursuit of an outcome of “sustained exclusive theatrical windows.”
Exhibitors “just want to make sure that things continue to progress that way versus any type of risk that might ensue from the consolidation of a significant studio like Warner Bros,” he said. The studio “has been a strong partner of theatrical exhibition for many, many years and just had a record-breaking performance in 2025.”
