If Buzz Lightyear, from Toy Story, were on the Netflix Board of Directors, that just might be what he’d shout now. Breaking their pattern of releasing films in theaters and on streaming at the same time, Netflix will release Warner Bros and Andy Serkis’ Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle in theaters on Nov. 29 and on streaming Dec. 7. In the last few years, Netflix began theatrical releases of its films order to be eligible for the Academy Awards, the Cannes Film Festival Awards, etc. In the past, choosing to release their films on the same day to both streaming and theaters meant theaters were less interested because of additional competition. According to an April article in Esquire, Netflix is even rumored to considering buying brick-and-mortar theaters; however, the big news is Netflix buy studio space and planning to hire at least 1000 people.

  Netflix’s purchase of studio facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico was a big topic of discussion and lament among local filmmakers and investors at the St. Louis International Film Festival earlier this November. Fortune cited Associated Press’s analysis of how New Mexico pulled off the deal: ”New Mexico lured the streaming service to the state thanks to more than $14 million in state and local economic development funding, and Netflix production work in the state is expected to result in $1 billion in spending over the next decade.” And don’t forget those 1000 jobs for people in the creative class.

   Acclaimed actor and director Andy Serkis reinvents Rudyard Kipling’s beloved masterpiece, in which a boy, torn between two worlds, accepts his destiny and becomes a legend. Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, a darker take on The Jungle Book, chronicles Mowgli’s (Rohan Chand) struggle to discover whether he belongs in the wild jungle or the civilized world of man. Mowgli navigates the inherent dangers of each on a quest to discover where he truly belongs. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys and Naomie Harris star in this visually-spectacular, emotionally-moving adventure. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence including bloody images, and some thematic elements; feature length. See Mowgli in theaters Nov. 29.

This isn’t the only Netflix film to get a theatrical release. Writer/director Alfonso Cuarón’s drama, Roma, which is getting Oscar buzz, also will receive a theatrical premiere and premiered here at St. Louis International Film Festival. Shot in glorious black and white, the semi-autobiographic Roma chronicles a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s. Known for A Little Princess (1995), Great Expectations (1998), his breakthrough movie Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Children of Men (2006), Garvity (2013), Cuarón makes a triumphant return to his roots and the burgeoning Mexican cinema. Rated R for graphic nudity, some disturbing images, and language; 135 minutes. Roma will be in theaters Dec. 14.

 While streaming might seem a fairly recent development, consider the following. 

   In 1930, RCA had demonstrated large screen television in one of RKO’s New York City theaters, and David Sarnoff, who would later be RCA Chairman of the Board, prophesied television, as a hybrid of radio, phonographs, and motion pictures, would provide entertainment everywhere and the large theaters in downtowns and neighborhood theaters would be centers of entertainment. He even predicted “a separate theater for every home.”

   Before giving Sarnoff credit for envisioning the modern home theater, consider what Siegmund Lubin (1851-1923), a film pioneer, predicted in 1906: “I believe the time will come when the live motion picture machine will be part and parcel of every up-to-date home. I believe that the day is not far distant when the moving picture film will be delivered at the home as is the morning newspaper of today and that the written description of the events of the day before will be augmented by realistic portrayals of the happening.”

   Remember the thrill of getting those Netflix discs delivered by mail? Not only does Lubin foresee the exhibition and distribution of entertainment and news in the form of movies to every home, but he also indicates the importance of this form of communication in modern life, just as Sarnoff does 24 years later. To Netflix and Beyond! Happy Streaming and Happy Theater Going!