Netflix Caves and Brings Stranger Things to Theaters

Netflix’s battle with movie theaters is over and Netflix lost, at least for now. The streamer has announced that the final episode of Stranger Things will play in theaters on the same day that it hits the service.

“We’re beyond excited that fans will have the chance to experience the final episode of Stranger Things in theaters — it’s something we’ve dreamed about for years, and we’re so grateful to Ted [Sarandos, CEO], Bela [Bajaria, Chief Content Officer], and everyone at Netflix for making it happen,” creators the Duffer Brothers said in Netflix’s announcement. “Getting to see it on the big screen, with incredible sound, picture, and a room full of fans, feels like the perfect — dare we say bitchin’ — way to celebrate the end of this adventure.”

The finale will premiere in theaters across the U.S. and Canada at 8:00 pm EST on December 31, the same time that it becomes available on Netflix, and will run through January 1, 2026.

The Netflix announcement is careful to describe the premiere as something special and rare, describing it as celebration and a fan event. That makes sense, given the streamer’s overall antipathy for the theaterical experience. Earlier this year, Sarandos described going to the theater as somehow elitist and a thing of the past, calling it “outmoded.” Sarandos told Variety, “If you’re fortunate to live enough in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.”

In that same interview, Sarandos used the word “bespoke” to describe the small theatrical releases that the streamer has done for films such as the Knives Out sequel Glass Onion and last year’s Oscar player Emilia Pérez, dismissing them as something that has to be done for awards qualification and because “it helps with the press cycle a little bit.” Instead, Sarandos told Variety, he encourages “every director we work with to focus on the consumer, focus on the fans.”

Ironically, that’s exactly what the Duffers have done with Stranger Things, and exactly why the finale needs to be in theaters. In a recent Variety profile, Matt Duffer bemoaned that streaming provides a substandard version of a project. “People don’t get to experience how much time and effort is spent on sound and picture, and they’re seeing it at reduced quality,” he said, before adding, “More than that, it’s about experiencing it at the same time with fans.”

That emphasis on “time with fans” seems to be the thing that’s getting Netflix to see past its CEO’s strange antipathy towards theaters. The streamer already brought its mega-hit KPop Demon Hunters to theaters for a sing-a-long event earlier in the year, and will bring it back again on Halloween weekend.

Will that be enough for Netflix to expand its “bespoke” runs and give upcoming, highly-anticipated films such as Guillermo del Toro‘s Frankenstein and Wake Up Dead Man a full theatrical run? Probably not. But the more that Sarandos sees that the fans and regular people he claims to serve do actually enjoy going to movie theaters, maybe he’ll get his head out of whatever upside down he’s been in and put all of Netflix’s major offerings on the big screen, not just Stranger Things.

Stranger Things season 5 premieres on Netflix on November 26, 2025.