Dan Lin’s formula for running Netflix’s film division comes down to a single conviction: viewers open the app wanting a good story, not an expensive one.
In a New York Times profile published Friday, the film chairman described his approach as one rooted in speed and discipline rather than prestige. “I can’t impose my taste on the slate,” Lin said. “But I can impose a way of making movies. I can impose a way of how we want to work with filmmakers.” His stated aim is making “someone’s favorite movie in a specific genre” — quality and variety over the big-swing blockbusters that defined the Scott Stuber era he inherited in 2024.
The philosophy is already creating friction. Netflix has halted pre-production on an untitled Hannibal biopic that would star Denzel Washington in the title role, directed by Antoine Fuqua. The project had been preparing to begin filming in Italy later this year, with Netflix meeting actors for supporting roles while Fuqua’s team scouted locations. The rumored budget has been circulating for months, with the figure reportedly north of $200 million. The pause is particularly striking given Fuqua’s commercial momentum — his Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” has grossed over $850 million at the box office, making it one of the biggest hits of 2026, with Lionsgate hard at work on a sequel.
Lin’s cost-conscious instincts extend to theatrical release. Where Stuber pushed Netflix to pursue wider cinema runs, Lin treats the streaming-first model as settled. “There is a group of filmmakers who still want theatrical,” he said. “Those are filmmakers that we’ve accepted we just won’t work with.” Exceptions exist — David Fincher’s Brad Pitt-led follow-up to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will get an IMAX rollout at Thanksgiving, and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation is set for a major theatrical push — but Lin frames those as anomalies rather than templates.
Since joining Netflix in 2024, Lin has greenlit 88 films, with subscribers averaging roughly seven movies a month on the platform. He reports not to Ted Sarandos but to chief content officer Bela Bajaria, whose background is in television — an organizational detail that may explain his preference for applying TV-style production discipline to film.
“The goal was to have really great movies on Netflix and have consistency in quality, and he has delivered that,” Bajaria said.
