Netflix has hired Peter Rice as chief content officer, putting the veteran executive in charge of both movies and television as the company begins taking broader steps into theatrical distribution.
Rice replaces Bela Bajaria, who was ousted in a major leadership shake-up. The reasons for Bajaria’s departure are not established in the available material, although there has been unconfirmed speculation that she was made a scapegoat for the company’s current growth squeeze.
The appointment gives Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos a content chief with extensive experience across film and television. Rice is a former president of 21st Century Fox and former chairman of Walt Disney Television, and he has spent 15 years working in Hollywood C-suites.
Before the Netflix move, rumors had linked Rice to a possible major position at Skydance. Those reports did not lead to a confirmed role there.
From Fox Searchlight to Netflix
Rice, who was born in the U.K. and is now 60, has worked primarily on the television side since his 2012 promotion to chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group. His earlier film career, however, is central to the questions surrounding his new Netflix role.
As president of Fox Searchlight from 2000 to 2009, Rice oversaw films including “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Juno,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Sideways.” That period established him as a highly regarded movie executive, while his later positions gave him significant small-screen experience.
That combination makes his new assignment unusually well matched to his résumé: He will be responsible for both of Netflix’s major content operations rather than arriving solely as a film executive or television executive.
What has not been confirmed is whether Rice’s hiring signals a specific change in Netflix’s movie policy. The timing is nevertheless notable because the company is preparing to give one of its biggest upcoming films a full theatrical launch.
Netflix’s Bigger Theatrical Push
Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” an adaptation of the sixth book in C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” series, is scheduled to open on Feb. 10, 2027. The $280 million production will play on IMAX screens around the world as well as additional screens.
Gerwig insisted on a full-scale theatrical release after the success of “Barbie,” according to the source material. Even after Netflix agreed to the arrangement, she continued fighting to ensure the release would happen.
The result will take Netflix further into conventional theatrical distribution than its previous limited cinema engagements. The company has also announced wider moves in that direction beyond “Narnia.”
“La Bola Negra,” described as Netflix’s major 2026 Oscar hopeful, is set to receive the longest theatrical rollout the company has given any film to date. Netflix will also begin reporting box-office numbers, marking a significant shift in its approach to financial transparency around theatrical releases.
Those confirmed changes arrive as the industry’s definition of a content executive continues to evolve. The traditional studio model emphasized commercial performance and a record of successful movies; modern content leadership increasingly spans film and television while operating within platforms shaped by audience data and algorithms.
ShowBiz Take
Rice’s hiring matters because two developments are converging at Netflix: a leadership reset and a potentially consequential expansion into theaters.
His career gives him direct experience on both sides of that equation. He has led television operations, but his Fox Searchlight years also connect him to a model built around distinctive theatrical movies. Netflix, meanwhile, is preparing a costly fantasy production for a worldwide cinema launch and committing to disclose its box-office results.
It would be premature to conclude that Rice was hired specifically to champion theatrical releases. No such mandate has been confirmed. It is equally unclear how much Netflix’s film strategy will change under his leadership or how Rice and Sarandos will divide creative and strategic authority.
Still, the overlap is difficult to ignore. Netflix is not merely changing the executive overseeing its content; it is doing so while testing a more expansive relationship with movie theaters. Rice will therefore enter the job as decisions about theatrical ambition, streaming priorities and corporate culture become increasingly connected.
What Happens Next?
Attention will now turn to Netflix’s execution of its announced theatrical plans, including the rollout of “La Bola Negra” and the Feb. 10, 2027 release of “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.”
Unconfirmed rumors have recently claimed that “Narnia” received an underwhelming test screening, but the available material does not establish the film’s quality or eventual commercial performance. It also remains unknown whether the results of that release would alter Netflix’s broader theatrical strategy.
For Rice, the immediate task is clear even if his longer-term influence is not: overseeing Netflix’s film and television output at a moment when the company is reconsidering how prominently theaters fit into its movie business.