First, both AMC and Regal have a hard rule that they will not put a movie in their theaters that does not give 90 day exclusivity to being shown in theaters prior to going streaming or rental. So if "4 weeks" is the push Scorsese is trying to get, it won't be a "wide release" by not having the distributorship of by far the two biggest chains which account for roughly 2/3 of the screens in the US.
Secondly, this is a ~$200m film that all the major studios passed on simply because of ROI. That's an unbelievable amount of money to spend on a drama. The cast (obviously) and technology used to make the faces younger are what spiked the costs and Scorsese wasn't going to do the film without using that tech. So Netflix clearly thinks they need to spend gobs of money on films to keep their viewership. Netflix bought this for streaming, period. Getting money in the theaters was never their intention or plan.
So while it could qualify for the Oscars like Roma, unless they go 90 days, it won't be a wide release. Scorsese can pressure Netflix, but not AMC/Regal.
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Now, about the actual movie; this thing looks awesome. De Niro has been mailing it in for over a decade it feels like. Uninspired rolls and just coasting through any line he has. It's been awful to see, honestly.
He's shown more passion and care in this role from this trailer than he has all of his films the last decade combined. It's obvious Scorsese, Pesci and Pacino can pull greatness out of him that other co-actors and directors cannot
I definitely agree with
@andrew - it's great seeing Pesci again.
