Entertainment mediums shudder when a next generation innovation appears on the horizon, poised to take over. The fear among journalists that social media will render them jobless is about as real as television networks fearing the onset of online streaming.

Which makes it all the more surprising that one streamer has decided to rescue a New York venue that screens movies the old-fashioned way.

On Wednesday, Netflix announced it planned to save Manhattan's venerable Paris Theatre, which closed its doors earlier in 2019, from a permanent shutdown.

3 Independent Flicks

Since actress Marlene Dietrich cut the ribbon for its opening in 1948, the theater was long a refuge for die-hard movie buffs to catch foreign-language, independent and cutting-edge art flicks, but decided to close when it couldn't compete with the more mainstream cinema spots as well as services like, ummm.... Netflix. When the theater was padlocked back in August, the last film to appear on its marquee was Ron Howard's biopic on opera singer Luciano Pavarotti.

Details of the financial arrangement were not disclosed although one source claims that the lease deal is for 10 years. But suffice to say that the executives at Netflix insist that the movie theater, which used to screen such European classics as A Man And A Woman, La Symphonie Pastorale and pretty well anything by Federico Fellini, will stay open forever.

2 Special Screenings

“After 71 years, the Paris Theatre has an enduring legacy, and remains the destination for a one-of-a-kind movie-going experience,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer with Netflix in a prepared release. “We are incredibly proud to preserve this historic New York Institution so it can continue to be a cinematic home for film lovers.”

While the Paris Theatre might continue its regular run of indie outings, Netflix will occasionally use the facility for special screenings. And while the deal might be seen as a benevolent gesture to preserve a vital piece of movie history, speculation has it that the arrangement doubled as a bargaining chip to bring on board such filmmakers as Noah Baumbach, Alfonso Cuaron and Martin Scorsese.

1 Decent Run

For sure, the evidence is circumstantial. Currently, Scorsese is enjoying a decent run of his latest film The Irishman a Netflix product. And Baumbach's most recent outing, Marriage Story, is also a Netflix work, that actually became the first film to screen at Paris Theatre once it reopened.

Netflix is reportedly working on a deal to keep another old movie theater open, that being The Egyptian in Los Angeles.