\n<\/p>\n
Netflix could soon lose the creative team behind one of its biggest hits.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Variety and other Hollywood publications reported that Matt and Ross Duffer, the brothers who created \u201cStranger Things\u201d (and wrote and directed many episodes), were in talks to sign an exclusive deal with Paramount<\/a> (now under the ownership of David Ellison\u2019s Skydance<\/a>). Then on Friday evening, Puck\u2019s Matthew Belloni posted<\/a> that the Duffers had in fact \u201cmade their choice\u201d and were going to Paramount.<\/p>\n The Duffer Brothers\u2019 ambition seems to have increased with each season of \u201cStranger Things,\u201d as episodes have grown longer, set pieces have become more spectacular, and the budget has grown accordingly, with a reported Season 4 cost of $30 million per episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s not surprising that the Duffers are interested in making big-budget, tentpole movies next \u2014 an area where Netflix has struggled, in part due to its thorny relationship with the theatrical business, which co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently described<\/a> as an \u201coutdated concept.\u201d<\/p>\n While Netflix does release some movies in theaters, it has resisted giving those releases a significant exclusive window before launching on streaming, which means Netflix movies usually aren\u2019t shown by the major chains.<\/p>\n This was, apparently, a sticking point for \u201cBarbie\u201d director Greta Gerwig, so the first of her \u201cNarnia\u201d movies for Netflix will play exclusively on Imax screens<\/a> for two weeks (or more<\/a>) before going to streaming on Christmas Day 2026. And it seems this was also important to the Duffers, with Belloni reporting that the \u201ctheatrical component\u201d turned out to be the \u201cdealbreaker\u201d in their negotiations.<\/p>\n The brothers\u2019 absence will not be immediately noticeable on Netflix, which will be releasing the final season of \u201cStranger Things\u201d in three (!) parts later this year, and where the Duffers have two new shows scheduled to launch in 2026. Plus, the \u201cStranger Things\u201d empire is growing, with a prequel<\/a> playing on Broadway, an animated series<\/a> coming soon, and a live action spinoff reportedly in the works.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n