“When I accepted this job, Bela gave me one simple piece of advice: be yourself,” Dan Lin wrote in his departure email to Netflix staff, following Monday’s announcement that he would no longer be the streamer’s head of film. He was referring to Bela Bajaria, the company’s chief content officer who was fired last week as Netflix seeks to reshape much of its screen content business.
It was a fitting anecdote given that Dan Lin, a Harvard Business School graduate turned studio executive and film producer behind hits like The Lego Movie and $1 billion more Aladdin who is known for his numeracy and budget-consciousness – was hired to be Dan Lin. And he was Dan Lin until Netflix made the decision to no longer want a Dan Lin character running its movie division.
So what did it mean to be Dan Lin at Netflix?
When Bajaria hired him in the spring of 2024, his mandate was to rein in spending (no more Russo brothers films at $300 million) and improve the quality of the slate.
This didn’t always make him popular; it’s easier to be the one who greenlights big budgets and big salaries than the one who says “no” to agents and filmmakers. There are a multitude of reports of filmmakers, from Ben Affleck to Greta Gerwig, having issues with executives’ communication styles.
“Dan was very candid in his comments. It’s even blunt,” a Netflix insider said. “Some talents were used to being handled with velvet gloves.”
Rumors of embittered talent spread like wildfire in the weeks leading up to Lin’s departure, but one filmmaker, David Fincher, was not among them, despite announcing he would not continue at Netflix when his contract expires next year. “David leaving had nothing to do with Dan,” a show insider said. Other misadventures of Cliff Booth director. Fincher renewed his deal with Netflix three years ago with the intention of not extending it.
Sources say that despite rumors of irritating talent, he managed to convince big names to work with Netflix. He has landed yet-to-be-announced projects with Keanu Reeves, Ben Stiller and streaming-averse Jason Statham, sources say. And filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, nominated for an Oscar for his adaptation of Frankenstein and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film for his portrayal of Pinocchioresumed his film contract under Lin.
As for films, Lin’s slate was just starting to hit audiences this year. Alan Ritchson’s science fiction film War machine and the adaptation of the book which caused a sensation Remarkably Brilliant Creatures were two of Lin’s first green lights and were released in February and May respectively. Both generated huge viewing figures. Upon arrival in 2024, he worked to fill holes in the 2025 roster, giving the green light Nonas, Merry Gilmore 2, My year at Oxford, The Thursday Murder ClubAnd House of Dynamite – and buy an Oscar contender Form dreams.
Lin’s next move is unclear. He spent years building Rideback, a company he divested when he took the Netflix job and hasn’t returned to. It is more likely that he will try to build something new. Last year, it was announced that he had co-founded an AI animation tech startup.
Speaking to industry stakeholders Monday after Lin’s ouster, several sources noted that no executive can be blamed if Netflix’s film selection doesn’t attract audiences in a meaningful way. Instead, this flaw lies at the heart of Netflix’s business model. “Streaming movies just doesn’t work,” says one executive who has done business with the streamer. “Nothing happens.”
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has long championed Netflix’s streaming-based business model. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, vibrant streaming feature films were a novelty. During the pandemic, it became a necessity. “It helps a little bit with the press cycle,” Sarandos said last year, about releasing films theatrically.
But as theater has rebounded — buoyed by big-name filmmakers and younger audiences interested in in-person experiences — Sarandos’ “stream or die” mentality is now seen as increasingly outdated. (When Netflix was about to acquire Warner Bros., Sarandos said he would keep Warners films in theaters. “My reluctance has mainly been around the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think are that consumer-friendly,” he noted.)
During his tenure, Lin pushed Sarandos to embrace theater more. Even though it was the co-CEO’s decision, Lin helped secure full theatrical releases for the next film. Kpop: Demon Hunters following, a decision which has not been officially announced. Now, after years of only agreeing on the minimum time required in theaters for awards conflicts and occasional tax cuts, Netflix will now expand its theatrical presence.
The Black BolaNetflix’s leading Oscar contender, acquired this year at the Cannes Film Festival, is receiving the streamer’s strongest theatrical release to date. Netflix even announced theatrical revenues from the film. Turns out that’s good news since the Spanish-language film grossed $277,500 on just four screens. In February, Greta Gerwig Narnia The film will have an exclusive 49-day theatrical run, with Netflix handling North American distribution and Sony Pictures Entertainment handling international distribution.
And a theatrical component could probably be the keystone of Netflix’s next cinematic boss(es). Several sources claim that Pamela Abdy, co-head of the Warner Bros. film. recently ousted Michael De Luca and are having conversations with the streamer, with a deciding factor being whether Netflix will commit to more theatrical releases.
Abdy and De Luca would arrive with a deep relationship with filmmakers, but the kind of filmmakers who need theatrical releases. Given Sarandos’ desire to win Best Picture – the key prize that has eluded the streamer in its entry into films, and one that De Luca and Abdy won last year with Paul Thomas Anderson One battle after another — capitulation is considered a real possibility.
It will ultimately be up to Peter Rice, Netflix’s new chief content officer, to find the executives who will help him right the ship, even if it’s unclear which direction the ship is supposed to be heading. It’s a familiar position for those at the top of organizational charts in this era of CEOs, holding companies and ever-changing mandates. It seems that uncertainty is the only true constant.
As Lin said in his Monday afternoon memo: “There is a lot of uncertainty in this industry right now, perhaps more than ever. But uncertainty is not what brought you here at Netflix, and it’s certainly not why you stay.”
—Aaron Couch contributed to this report.
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