Netflix Is Getting Ripped for Botching Major Halloween Movie’s Release

What should be one of the year’s biggest movies is instead poised to completely disappear from the cultural conversation thanks to an unfortunate release strategy from Netflix.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel starring big names like Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Christoph Waltz, is getting rave reviews for creating a visually stunning new take on one of the most classic monster stories. But most people around the world won’t get to see it in theaters at all.

Curiously, despite the obvious slam-dunk potential of a new Frankenstein movie releasing just before Halloween, Netflix has opted to only release the film in theaters in a few big cities like Los Angeles and New York. This Friday, the film will expand across the U.S., but will only play in a select number of small art-house theaters across the country. The film will hit Netflix on November 7, and likely disappear from cinema screens completely right after.

For a minute, it seemed like Netflix was breaking its long-standing policy of not showing its movies in theaters—for example, the streamer recently released the smash-hit animated musical KPop Demon Hunters in theaters, where it topped the box office.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Guillermo del Toro spoke on how he was just glad to be able to make the film at all despite the lack of theatrical showings.

“The theatrical experience is very important,” he said. “I believe in it. But if the choice is between being able to make the movie and have portions of the release be theatrical and portions be streaming, or not make the movie, that’s an easy decision to make. For a filmmaker, you want to tell your stories.”

Plenty of potential viewers of the movie are unhappy with the streamer’s decisions to withhold the movie from major theater chains, however.

Several users of Twitter/X replied to del Toro’s tweet about theatrical showings with complaints about Netflix’s release strategy. The comments are littered with replies of fans asking for the movie to come to their city.

“It’s kind of sad that we have to go through this with Netflix though. It should have been readily available everywhere for whatever short period of time they would have allowed it for,” one user wrote.

Another user begged Netflix to “expand it worldwide.”

It’s kind of sad that we have to go through this with Netflix though. It should have been readily available everywhere for whatever short period of time they would have allowed it for.

— Discohopper 🌿 (@TranceHooligan) October 18, 2025

Meanwhile, on an Instagram post by Movieweb lamenting the lack of theatrical showings for the movie, several commentators made their voice heard.

“Yeah god forbid you put a Frankenstein movie in theaters in October,” @truehorrornet wrote.

“If there was one movie I wanted to see on the theater this year, it was this one. Thanks Netflix,” said @vannar_photography.

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Frankenstein releases on Netflix on November 7.