Thread by @ToluThomas

Lots of talk the past couple days about how #BirdBox gained 45M viewers and what mean for #Netflix & the movie industry. I'm most curious as to *why* Netflix released the viewership number. I have some theories! 1/6 theverge.com/2018/12/30/181…

Theory 1: Sandra Bullock is a huge movie star and wants to remain one. So she & her reps wanted everyone to know that she wasn't taking a step down from studio moviemaking to do #BirdBox on #Netflix. Releasing the 45M # lets everyone know she can still deliver a big audience. 2/6

Theory 2: #Netflix is trying to attract as much movie talent as possible. "Hey A-list producers, directors and actors, forget about your 2018 box office rebound. We're the future of movies, and the future has arrived. Come sign with us and reach a much bigger audience." 3/6

Theory 3: This is #Netflix declaring that they're officially disrupting the next level of the movie industry: the theater business. Traditionally, there have been two phases to movie distribution: theaters and home video. 4/6

We've been waiting to see whether those phases would merge: studios shortening (or eliminating) the time between theater and home releases, but theater owners have rebelled. #BirdBox #Netflix 5/6

#Netflix is now saying: why wait for the dinosaurs running studios & theaters to evolve? We're gonna attract the talent and shift the entire movie distribution pipeline to our existing, insanely-popular platform. #BirdBox 6/6 (cc: @RichBTIG)