AMC CEO Pushes for Longer Theatrical Runs, Calls Shortened Windows a Failed Experiment

While AMC has had a strained relationship with streaming services in the past, Aron is open to working with Netflix. He noted that IMAX recently struck a deal to screen Netflix’s 2026 Narnia movie in theaters first, and AMC is supporting this move.

Aaron also believes that movies should stay in theaters for at least 45 days, and in some cases, even longer (up to 60-74 days). He believes the current system, where films are pulled from theaters after just 17 or 30 days, isn’t working. According to him, keeping movies in theaters longer would help them make more money. He also wants to convince major studios to support this change and says this discussion is a top priority right now.

I sure hope that we can introduce longer windows, because I think that the current industry experiment on windows has failed. n our view, 17 days and 30 days are too short. And we would like to convince all the major studios that they should keep movies in theaters longer. And this is a conversation that is front and center live [today].

“We would love to be able to convince Netflix that embracing theatrical releases is good for them,” Aron said. “They did it with Glass Onion. They are doing it with Narnia. We’ll see where this goes. I have always believed that the consumer’s appetite for entertainment…can support both the robust theatrical industry and a robust streaming industry side by side.”

Despite Aron’s optimism, convincing Netflix remains a challenge. The company’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, has expressed skepticism about traditional theatrical distribution. He believes that releasing movies directly on Netflix without relying on box office revenue is a more efficient strategy.

“We can uniquely spend $200 million on a film, and have enough scale of viewership to put it directly on Netflix without trying to recover some of the economics in the theater, which I think is a fairly inefficient way to distribute some movies,” Sarandos said during the Royal Television Society’s London Convention last September.

As the film industry continues to evolve, the debate over theatrical windows remains a hot topic. While Aron pushes for longer exclusivity in theaters, Netflix is testing the waters with select releases. Whether major studios and streaming platforms will embrace longer runs in theaters remains to be seen, but the conversation is far from over.

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