When it was first announced that Guillermo del Toro was directing Frankenstein (2025), people were, understandably, excited. Excited, that is, until it was announced that the project would be a Netflix-exclusive release, and people realized that they may never get to see Frankenstein as imagined by one of the most visually ambitious directors of our time (a fact that can be argued later, but let’s be honest) in movie theaters.
Many people saw it as yet another example of streaming platforms sidelining the theatrical experience. The backlash was nearly immediate, with people — critics, film lovers, and even cast members — arguing that a gothic epic like Frankenstein being released only on a streaming service was a disservice to both the film and the audience.
The backlash grew loud enough, in fact, that Netflix ultimately agreed to give the film a limited theatrical run before it hit the platform. While the decision felt like a meaningful win in the larger fight to keep movie theaters culturally essential, it begs the question: why are audiences increasingly having to fight to see movies the way they were meant to be?
A Monster Born for the Big Screen
Viewers weren’t just pushing for a theatrical release out of nostalgia. It seems like they were responding more to the feeling that streaming has, in short, shrunk films down to content, eliminated the sense of occasion, and replaced curation with an algorithmic churn of content.
Seeing Frankenstein in theaters (no pausing, no spoilers, no distractions) becomes not just entertainment, but resistance to the way streaming platforms expect us to consume stories.
For Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein was a film that he’d actively been pursuing for around 25 years. Lead actors in the film, Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac, both voiced their sentiments on the matter.
Elordi, who portrays the Creature, shared that his “great hope is that we get this film in cinemas for as long as possible. And then, hopefully, that can set a precedent for more films out there.” Isaac, who plays Victor Frankenstein, also added, “It’s heartbreaking that films like these don’t have full cinematic releases… It’d be nice to have a communal experience.”
This frustration speaks to a bigger anxiety: if streamers make all decisions based on convenience and subscriber numbers, the art itself becomes secondary.
Why Filmmakers Fight for Theaters
While Frankenstein’s release brings these ideas into focus, the debate over theatrical versus streaming isn’t new. Filmmakers have criticized streaming’s dominance for years, particularly as platforms shrink theatrical windows or skip theaters entirely.
Christopher Nolan, in fact, wrote a passionate op-ed in which he argued that theaters aren’t simply big screens: they’re communal spaces. He writes, “Regular people … earn a living running the most affordable and democratic of our community gathering places.”
He argues that, essentially, films deserve a theatrical moment. Treating films as disposable streaming content risks erasing them entirely; your favorite film could vanish the moment licensing agreements change.
Sean Baker, the Oscar-winning director of Anora (who, as a matter of fact, visited FSU after his win), said in his Oscar acceptance speech that watching a film in the theater is a communal experience: one that’s under threat. Baker even launched a “Free Movie Weekend” to support independent theaters across the U.S.
These filmmakers, it seems, aren’t just nostalgic for the past. Instead, they’re actively fighting for a future where theatrical releases remain a meaningful part of how stories are shared. Theatrical releases aren’t outdated. They’re only endangered because corporate decisions seem to be flattening how we watch movies.
What Streaming Gets Wrong
Streaming undeniably offers convenience, but convenience may come with cultural costs.
One potential cost is that a movie’s success becomes measured in hours watched, not impact. The communal element may be lost entirely as well. Streaming, in some ways, makes films private when they were always meant to be public.
When studios prioritize platform exclusivity over artistry, movies become something you put on while multitasking, not something you gather for, and an entire year’s worth of art is at risk of collapsing into your “Continue Watching” tab.
The limited theatrical release of del Toro’s Frankenstein doesn’t feel too much like a gift bestowed upon viewers — it should be the baseline. Films deserve to be shared, discussed, and experienced, not buried by an algorithm a week after release.
If we let streaming become the only way major films are released, we risk turning that ritual into a sort of solo scroll-through. Theater jobs are lost, local cinemas close, and film becomes something you watch alone, instead of something you share.
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