And agreed on Marty being hypocrite. Even The Irishman wasn't shown heavily in theaters, he could have pushed it that way but he chose not to.

Marty could have made the movie without Netflix. He wanted their money. But there was a deal to make the film at a lower budget (and frankly a film like the Irishman shouldn’t be more than 100M).

It was his choice in the end.

Agreed for a big and named director like Marty he has the power to call the shots and release strategy.

In this case, theater chains called the shots.

Again going to Netflix was his decision and the release in this case followed. I do think he had power to compel Netflix on release strategy and getting bigger release window or otherwise choose a different streamer like Amazon which had better theatrical windows for its releases.

The champagne bottles at Netflix's afterparty were still corked Feb. 24 when the streaming company offered Oscar viewers the first peek at next year's awards season. A teaser for Martin Scorsese's upcoming gangster drama The Irishman aired midway through the Academy Awards telecast, with a simple phrase appended: "In Theaters Next Fall." That's a slight tweak from the language Netflix used in its teaser for Roma, "In Select Theaters," and the word choice indicates how the company that once eschewed theatrical windows plans to evolve for its biggest film yet.

Scorsese wants a wide theatrical release for his more than $125 million gangster movie, and two industry sources with knowledge of talks between Netflix and theater owners tell The Hollywood Reporter that the streaming company is working to get him one. To do so, Netflix will have to expand the three-week art house theatrical window it pioneered amid controversy this awards season and will have to allow theater owners to report box office numbers, which the streamer did not do for Roma.

"Netflix wants a big footprint for The Irishman," says one industry source. "They've put themselves in a position by supporting these kinds of filmmakers where they have to come to grips with the theatrical business model and how it works."

Netflix is facing pressure from other industry groups to conform to Hollywood norms to a greater degree than it did on its release of Alfonso Cuarón's Spanish-language drama, which won three Oscars (for directing, foreign-language film and cinematography) but lost best picture to Universal Pictures' Green Book, in part, at least according to interviews with several Academy members, because Oscar voters penalized the company for its business model.

In addition to The Irishman, Netflix also is looking at its theatrical strategies for at least five other potential awards films, including Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat, David Michôd's The King, Dee Rees' The Last Thing He Wanted, Fernando Meirelles' The Pope and an as-yet-untitled Noah Baumbach film starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.

$2m now - still No. 1...

$2.65m now - still No. 1...

$3.13m now - still No. 1...