Netflix’s Course Correction Under Film Chief Dan Lin As Streaming Reality Sets In

Between 2019 and 2023, Netflix released several hundred movies each year. The company cannonballed into the deep end of original film to secure validation as the new industry interloper. But under Dan Lin, who took over as the streamer’s head of film in 2024, Netflix is changing its course. In the first three months of 2026, the most popular subscription streamer on the planet released “just” 23 original movies—that’s a prodigious volume compared to legacy studios, but an eight-year low for Netflix. Executives are conceding to an overlooked truth: streaming doesn’t reward original movies the way the industry once assumed it would.

The reality was that many of Netflix’s films came and went without any real impact. Roughly one in four movies (original and licensed) garnered 100,000 or fewer viewership hours per quarter from 2023 to 2025, barely registering with audiences.

Historically, successful movies on streaming cause mad dashes of viewership before fading. Longer TV series, on the other hand, sustain engagement and drive better retention. A never-ending flow of movies sounds like an addictive prospect on paper. But they rarely live up to the hype, especially against their theatrical counterparts. 

Comparing nine Netflix movies to 11 films released in theaters at the same pre-release point yields a consistent gulf between the two. Theatrical movies scored better in Awareness, Interest, Theatrical Intent, Willingness to Pay and other measures of demand, according to Greenlight Analytics, where I work as Director of Insights & Content Strategy. That’s not an indictment of Netflix’s quality, but a reflection of consumer sentiment. Straight-to-streaming movies start from a lower baseline and decay faster. 

What the data shows

Long-running series with massive episode libraries unsurprisingly generate the most time spent in the scripted streaming world (procedurals, sitcoms, kids’ entertainment). 

Here are the 10 most-watched licensed series in the U.S. last year, per Nielsen: Bluey, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, SpongeBob SquarePants, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, Law & Order: SVU, Criminal Minds and The Rookie. I can’t tell you how often I have sitcoms on in the background while I eat lunch, fold laundry or zone out during all-hands Zoom meetings in which I never once unmute myself. 

The average minutes watched for these shows in 2025 was a whopping 33 billion, per Nielsen. The average of the Top 10 streaming originals? 18.2 billion. Both TV totals still dwarf the averages of the top 10 kids movies (7.4 billion) and general audience movies (4.91 billion). 

TV is a habit. Movies on streaming are, for the most part, a moment. 

Netflix’s course correction

Netflix’s reduced film volume isn’t just about content budgets and ROI. It’s an acknowledgment that the streaming business model is built more on TV than film. There’s a reason McDonald’s fries sell better than their McChickens. Netflix’s TV library has generated more audience demand than its film library in every single quarter since 2022, per Parrot Analytics, which tracks piracy viewership and social activity.

Theatrical movies making their streaming debut are often first selections when logging on, especially among Gen Z. That’s valuable. Original streaming films can be select event-driven releases that feed into one another. January’s The Rip spent seven weeks in Netflix’s global top 10s, leading into March’s War Machine, which has remained in the Top 10 for five straight weeks since release as of this writing. That’s just good old-fashioned quality scheduling. (The action genre consistently performs on streaming.)

Films will always be crucial to culture. But they’re less efficient in a subscription model. Red Notice (118 minutes) carried a $200 million budget and was watched for at least 454.2 million hours. All three seasons of Squid Game (22 episodes totaling 21.37 hours) reportedly cost just $91.4 million. The show has been watched for approximately 4.48 billion hours. The Night Agent Season 1 reportedly cost up to $30 million and generated 803.2 million viewing hours. Longer runtimes also create more advertising inventory, a top priority in Los Gatos. 

Last year, three of the top five Netflix titles watched by low-usage global subscribers at the greatest risk of cancellation were TV series (Squid Game Season 2, American Primeval, Squid Game Season 1), per Digital i. (Original films Carry-On and Back in Action were also in the top five). That same study also revealed that just one movie, KPop Demon Hunters, ranked in the Top 15 acquisition-driving titles across Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

You tell me which is the better investment overall. 

Netflix is (rightly) not abandoning movies; it’s just right-sizing its content strategy, especially as live events and sports chew up more of its budget. Streaming rewards extended stays, not momentary fly-bys. Film will always be the best medium for launching financially lucrative multimedia franchises that spawn TV extensions. Netflix knows this better than most as the home to Cobra Kai, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, XO, Kitty, two different Jurassic World kids series, two different Boss Baby series, and many more. 

Streaming didn’t remotely kill movies. It just reduced their importance inside the new business model. Netflix is simply adapting its strategy based on the results.