Dallas' Booming Appetite for Films Helps Land the City a Netflix House

It’s easy to forget that it has been a little over a decade since Netflix, the service once most used to receive DVD rentals, began its transition into original content, which would lead to it becoming one of the most powerful media empires in modern Hollywood. The very concept that a star-driven show like House of Cards would be debuting on the platform was once easy to mock, but in the 13 years since the political drama premiered, Netflix’s roster of stars has grown to include Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Robert De Niro, Natalie Portman, Chris Evans and Bradley Cooper, among others.

More significant than the growth of Netflix has been the way that it has shaped the method of distribution going forward; with rival services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Max, and a plethora of niche platforms, Netflix is no longer the only dominant force within streaming. In order to secure its healthy lead over the competition, Netflix has aimed to build out its enterprise with a variety of entertainment opportunities. Dallas is set to be one of the first cities to be enveloped within this initiative.

The Galleria Dallas shopping center will officially open its doors to one of the nation’s first two “Netflix Houses” in the fall and will likely serve as an unofficial “test drive” to see if similar entertainment programs will be developed in other key markets. What all will be included within the center has yet to be revealed, but it certainly won’t be light on iconography from some of the streamer’s top programming; a real-life version of various Squid Game competitions; a ball inspired by Bridgerton, and a plethora of Stranger Things memorabilia are all set to be prominently displayed.

Dallas’ selection is clearly calculated, as the city has steadily eclipsed rival markets Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C., to be the third biggest cinematic marketplace behind the coastal cities of New York and Los Angeles. Given the increased push to allocate state funding to productions through tax incentives, it would be little surprise if Dallas continued to rise in popularity as an entertainment destination. It’s not clear entirely if the Netflix House will be closer to a theme park or a movie theater chain, but thankfully Dallas has proven that its residents have interest in both.

Netflix continues to grow in subscribers, but its major hurdle moving forward is the development of a brand identity that will rank it among the world’s most powerful conglomerates. A studio like Disney will forever be linked to the smile of Mickey Mouse, and despite a series of recent disappointments, Warner Bros. Discovery can still develop promotional material featuring Batman, Harry Potter and Sheldon Cooper. Everybody seems to be watching Netflix, but the streamer clearly seeks to create fanfare surrounding its releases that go beyond simply checking the interface to see new titles that pop up.

This directive comes at a defining moment within Netflix’s content development, as 2025 marks the closure of some of its most popular titles. After years of delays caused by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the writers strike, Stranger Things will finally wrap up its last season this year, bringing the saga of Hawkins to a close. After a brutal wait in between its first and second seasons, Squid Game is also announced to be airing its final installments this June. Given that other popular shows like The Crown, Ozark, Narcos, BoJack Horseman and The Queen’s Gambit are also wrapped, Netflix will need to ensure that its remaining shows continue to cultivate strong responses.

Opening a center in Dallas makes a lot of sense given the city’s existing ties to Netflix. Although Netflix has frequently clashed with major theater chains over the distribution of its films that later debut on the service, Dallas locations like The Texas Theater, The Angelika Film Center and the Highland Park Village Theater are among the few places in which cinephiles were afforded the opportunity to see titles such as May December, Maestro and Roma on the big screen. Netflix has also had a dominant presence within the Texas festival circuit; the short-lived North Texas Film Festival debuted several acclaimed Netflix titles, including Marriage Story, Dolemite Is My Name, and The Two Popes, all of which went on to become major contenders within the 2020 award season.

The other ambitious endeavor Netflix has set for itself in 2025 is its attempt to break into the lucrative IMAX market that has become critical to the success of the highest-grossing films. Despite the streamer’s general disinterest in giving theatrical releases to its films, Netflix has struck a major deal with IMAX to screen the upcoming reboot of The Chronicles of Narnia from Greta Gerwig. IMAX locations at the Cinemark on Webb-Chapel Road and the AMC NorthPark are among the biggest in the nation, so Netflix will almost certainly be looking to Dallas to advance its projections.

When exactly this goes into effect is an even bigger question. While The Chronicles of Narnia is expected to be one of the most expensive films in the streamer’s history and likely won’t debut until late 2026 at the earliest, this year Netflix will release highly anticipated titles such as the animated Frankenstein from Guillermo del Toro, the third installment in the Knives Out franchise, the science fiction adventure film The Electric State from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo, as well as a currently untitled thriller from Kathryn Bigelow. The financial benefits of putting these films out to select markets may be slim when compared with overall subscriber growth, but it isn’t like Netflix is avoiding prestige entirely. CEO Ted Sarandos even proclaimed to investors that “we have made and we are making great films.”

The debut of the Netflix House could likely be part of a larger strategy to decentralize the entertainment industry. Even before the disastrous wildfires shut down productions in Los Angeles, it was evident that Hollywood would not be able to sustain itself by catering to the coastal cities. These recent moves don’t just suggest that Netflix is looking to Dallas for help; they’re keyed into the wishes of its audiences. Perhaps, the rest of the world could stand to look at what Dallas is doing right.