Sean Baker Says He Was Surprised By Neon’s ‘Anora’ Awards Campaign Budget & Urges Filmmakers To Protect Theatrical Amid Netflix-WB Merger

“We should not be reducing theatrical windows. We should be expanding them,” Sean Baker exclaimed this evening during a career Q&A session at the Red Sea Film Festival. 

The Anora filmmaker, who is head of this year’s competition jury at Red Sea, was in conversation with Fionnuala Halligan, director of Red Sea’s international programs, who asked Baker what he thought the future of cinema would look like after this week’s news of Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. 

Baker added that “filmmakers have to put our foot down” to protect theatrical experiences.

“Audiences have to be reminded that they will lose their theaters if they don’t go,” Baker said. “But I am hopeful because Anora’s biggest audience was Gen Z. I was told that Gen Z isn’t going to the movies anymore, which isn’t true. I love the fact that younger people are seeing the value in a communal experience where their entire focus is on the film.”

Baker added, “I don’t understand why you can’t wait an extra three months for your streaming money. I don’t care what happens with my next film, I’m gonna get a 100-day theatrical window. I think that’s a good place for this moment. When you’re going directly to streaming, it takes away from the importance of a film. Theatrical elevates the experience. The way you present a film to the world is important.” 

Later during the session, Baker was asked about how he sees his filmmaking practice evolving following his four Oscar wins with Anora. Halligan specifically asked Baker whether he plans to work on a larger scale. His answer was definitive.  

“I’m not going to go for the $100 or $150 million studio thing,” Baker said.  “The opportunities are there, whether we will take them or not, that’s your question. Because honestly, I’ve been in this world for so long, and have got to a place with Samantha Quan and Alex Coco where we work so well together.” Quan and Coco are Baker’s producers. Quan is also the filmmaker’s wife.

For his next feature, Baker said the project will “probably be around the size of Anora.”

“Something in that general area and in the same wheelhouse, in terms of story and content,” he said.

Baker told the audience in Jeddah that he has only recently begun to reflect on the unique ride of Anora’s awards campaign because he spent much of this year promoting the film in international markets and finishing Tsou Shih-Ching’s The Left Handed Girl, which he edited and produced. 

“We finished the edit the night before the Oscars,” he said of Shih-Ching’s film, which is Taiwan’s 2026 Oscar entry. 

Curiously, later during the session, an audience member asked Baker about the money spent on the Anora awards campaign. According to several reports at the time, Neon spent around $18 million on the awards campaign for the film. Baker said he was surprised by the figure. 

“I didn’t know what the budget was on the Oscar run until Tom Quinn, who is the president of Neon, did a podcast and said it. I was surprised,” Baker said, adding, “But, I mean, it worked.” 

Red Sea runs until Dec 13.