Don’t let the success of KPop Demon Hunters at the box office fool you, Netflix is still Netflix. And Netflix doesn’t do theatrical releases. In Variety’s profile of the Duffer Brothers ahead of Stranger Things’ final season, the brothers let it slip that they were hoping the show’s big finale could go up, up, up on big screens too. “People don’t get to experience how much time and effort is spent on sound and picture, and they’re seeing it at reduced quality,” Matt Duffer said. “More than that, it’s about experiencing it at the same time with fans.” But Netflix head Bela Bajaria didn’t seem into it. “A lot of people — a lot, a lot, a lot of people — have watched ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix,” she said. “It has not suffered from lack of conversation or community or sharing or fandom. I think releasing it on Netflix is giving the fans what they want.”
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They say you lose them how you get them. Netflix got the Duffer Brothers with the creative freedom that streaming allowed at the time. And Netflix is losing them to Paramount because of that focus on streaming. Matt Duffer told Variety “the biggest draw to us was just to be able to do something theatrical, which is not something Netflix does.” The Duffers still have some Stranger Things-related wrapping up to do at their old home, however. Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 will animate the kids (now adults) of Hawkins back to their season 2 ages. And there’s also still a spinoff brewing, set at a different gateway to Demogorgon Town. Like Will Byers himself, the Duffers may never be totally free from the Upside Down.
