Netflix to release The Irishman, Marriage Story and The Two Popes in Australian cinemas

We’re so used to sitting down on the couch and turning on Netflix with a remote. In the next few months, that process is about to change.

You know the awards season is near when even Netflix is rolling out the red carpet for its original movies.

Netflix has now added anticipated films The Irishman, Marriage Story and The Two Popes to its line-up of movies that will be released in select cinemas before they hit the streaming service.

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, the story of a hitman who may or may not have had something to do with union boss Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance, a mystery that remains unsolved.

The Irishman debuted at the New York Film Festival last week to rave reviews. It also runs three-and-a-half hours.

It will release in cinemas for a limited run on November 7 before its Netflix debut on November 27.

Martin Scorsese convinced Joe Pesci to come out of retirement for The Irishman.

Filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s (The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha) movie Marriage Story stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in a family drama about a young creative couple going through the throes of divorce.

The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival and has been compared to Kramer versus Kramer. It is generating Oscar buzz for Driver, who has a busy season coming up — he will also be seen in The Report (November 14) and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (December 19).

Marriage Story is Baumbach’s second collaboration with Netflix after releasing The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017. Marriage Story will be released in cinemas on November 14 before its Netflix premiere on December 6.

Adam Driver will have two movies releasing into cinemas on November 14: Marriage Story and The Report

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The Two Popes comes from the Oscar-nominated director of City of God, Fernando Meirelles, and stars Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. The screenplay is from Anthony McCarten, who is best known for The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour.

Inspired by true events, it’s the story of the transition of power from Pope Benedict (Hopkins) to Pope Francis (Pryce). It’s sold as a secretive power struggle within the walls of the Vatican, a fight between tradition and progress, the past and the future.

The Two Popes will be in cinemas on December 5 and on Netflix on December 20.

All three movies will play at the Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas in Melbourne and Randwick Ritz in Sydney, Dendy cinemas in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, with other venues still to be confirmed.

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce are the two titular popes.

Despite its home entertainment-focused business model, Netflix releases the occasional film into cinemas partly for awards eligibility. Organisations such as the Oscars require competing films to have had a theatrical release.

But you’ll only see awards contenders from high-profile filmmakers such as Scorsese receive the big screen treatment. Standard Netflix movie fare such as Falling Inn Love or The Perfect Date are unlikely to ever see the inside of a cinema.

The streamer has been fighting a war with large cinema chains around the world over the traditional “theatrical window” that demands a movie released into cinemas will not be available on other platforms such as streaming for a period of time, often three months.

Last year, Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar-winning Roma played in cinemas for two weeks in Australia.

Previously, Netflix announced The King, starring Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton and Robert Pattinson, would be released in cinemas from this Friday. The King is directed by Australian David Michod and was co-written by Michod and Edgerton.

The King will play the Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas in Victoria, the Ritz, Dendy Newtown and Opera Quays in Sydney, Dendy Portside and Coorparoo in Brisbane, Dendy in Canberra and The Backlot in Perth.

The King will be in cinemas from this Friday. Picture: Netflix via AP

Australian streaming service Stan announced last week it acquired the rights to Justin Kurzel’s film True History of the Kelly Gang, which stars Russell Crowe, George MacKay, Nicholas Hoult, Thomasin McKenzie and Essie Davis.

True History of the Kelly Gang will also release into cinemas first through distributor Transmission, but there is no confirmation on when the theatrical release is and how quickly the streaming debut will follow.

Amazon Prime Video and Transmission will also release Brittany Runs a Marathon in cinemas on October 31, followed by its streaming release on November 15.

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