In the latest news in a tumultuous cycle for Netflix, Dan Lin is leaving the streamer nearly three years after he joined as chairman of film. Ne
In the latest news in a tumultuous cycle for Netflix, Dan Lin is leaving the streamer nearly three years after he joined as chairman of film.
Netflix confirmed the news on Monday morning. Lin’s departure follows last week’s shuffle that sees Peter Rice replace Bela Bajaria as chief content officer. Rice, who officially starts on October 26, will oversee the film team until a fresh film head is announced.
Hollywood has undergone huge disruption with industry-wide lay-offs and executive shuffles. The highly-regarded Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy recently left Warner Bros as co-heads of the motion picture group in the wake of the $111bn Skydance merger.
Lin oversaw the release of KPop Demon Hunters, which is the streamer’s most-watched film of all time and won two Oscars this year. Other titles included Animals, 14th, last season’s Oscar nominee Frankenstein, as well as War Machine, Happy Gilmore 2, The Two Popes, and the upcoming The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth, and 2027 release Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.
Key acquisitions include Netflix’s top awards contender for this season, La Bola Negra, as well as last year’s Oscar nominated Train Dreams, and Emilia Pérez.
It remains to be seen how the film culture will change at the streamer since it moved away from the higher-quality tastemaker fare championed by Lin’s predecessor Scott Stuber. Among other senior executives on the way out are Lin’s co-head of film Doug Belgrad.
In a statement Lin said, “It’s been a great privilege to lead this incredible team and work with amazing filmmakers and talent to bring their movies to the world. Thank you to Ted, Greg and Bela for the opportunity.”
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, “I started working with Dan well before he joined us in 2024 and his strength as a producer was always clear. Once he joined Netflix, I saw up close how his dedication to quality filmmaking, rigour around dealmaking and strategy, and collaborative spirit elevated our film business. I’m grateful to Dan for everything he’s done for Netflix films.”
Netflix is laying off approximately 6% of its workforce in the company’s biggest staff cull. Co-CEOs Sarandos and Greg Peters will join senior executives to report Q3 earnings on Tuesday. Netflix stock dropped a little over 1% on Monday morning and was hovering around $69.57 at time of writing.
Prior to joining Netflix, Lin was founder and CEO of Rideback, and was SVP of Production at Warner Bros, where he served from 1999 to 2007. From 2008 to 2024, films produced by him have grossed more than $6bn at the worldwide box office, including the Lego Movie and Sherlock Holmes franchises, It, and the live-action Disney remakes Lilo & Stitch and Aladdin.
