Netflix has been able to secure some contracts with several creatives over the past few years, but recently the streaming giant has been getting flak for refusing to release their movies theatrically—which loses some potential for profit when it comes to movies.
Hellboy and Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro had recently teamed up with Netflix for an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein book, and some have been wondering if this movie is going straight to streaming or going to actually break the usual Netflix mold.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Set for Theatrical Run
As del Toro has officially confirmed on BlueSky, his Frankenstein adaptation will have a theatrical run. Sharing a first look at the movie from Vanity Fair, del Toro captioned the post, "Frankenstein will have a theatrical run..."
He doesn’t give any details about the release, but it has been confirmed that the movie is going to be coming out sometime in 2025.
Besides the hype of an auteur like del Toro being at the helm, the movie has also managed to cast Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight, Star Wars) as Dr. Frankenstein, and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) as Frankenstein’s monster.
Other cast members for the film include Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Charles Dance, Burn Gorman, and Ralph Ineson.
Probably the last big adaptation of the Frankenstein story came out back in 2015 with Viktor Frankenstein starring James McAvoy as the mad doctor and Daniel Radcliffe as his assistant Igor.
Netflix Originals
Originally when Netflix had a movie that they got the rights to, they would just release it on their platform directly; but more recently, other streaming platforms have come to realize that there is money to be made with the exclusivity of theaters.
Some companies like Prime Video would release their movies for a limited time in theaters before the film comes directly to their streaming platform. Besides making a profit from ticket sales, this actually allowed for a film to get some great buzz from general audiences. Movies that usually release straight to streaming kind of get swept under the rug if they don’t manage to engage the general audience in the weekend that it drops.
Now it seems like filmmakers are backing Netflix into a corner when it comes to theatrical releases. Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig are said to be unhappy that Netflix won’t give the next Knives Out film a theatrical release, and Emerald Fennell (Saltburn) decided to shop her Wuthering Heights adaptation with Margot Robbie and Elordi to WB Pictures. Though Netflix did offer more money for the movie, Fenell and her team decided to take less money from WB with the promise of a wide theatrical release.
Netflix and del Toro
So far, it looks like del Toro has been having a great relationship with Netflix. Besides his animated Pinocchio movie, del Toro had also teamed up with Netflix for his anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities. Maybe a theatrical release was perhaps owed to del Toro at this point.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has no solid release date yet, but it’s expected to come out sometime in 2025.