Elizabeth Olsen Says She Won't Be In Any Streaming Movies
It's movie theaters or nothing.
Don’t expect to see Elizabeth Olsen in your Netflix queue. Although the actor has had success on streamers before with TV series, she clarified that she does not like her movies to be watched via streaming. To that point, Olsen has declared she will not sign on to any film that will not be released in movie theaters.
Olsen made her bold statement in an Oct. 21 InStyle profile, noting that she can’t always predict when a project may head to streaming, but she’s determined to avoid joining any film without a theatrical release. “If a movie is made independently and only sells to a streamer, then fine. But I don't want to make something where that's the end-all,” Olsen said.
The reason she’s so insistent on this is because she fears losing the communal aspect of moviegoing. “I think it's important for people to gather as a community, to see other humans, be together in a space,” Olsen said. “That’s why I like sports. I think it's really powerful for people to come together for something that they're excited about ... We don’t even audition in person anymore.”
Although Olsen is focused on theatrical releases, her recent movies have found streaming success. Her 2024 dramedy topped the Netflix charts when it was released on the streamer last fall. Likewise, though her various Marvel movies were first released in theaters, they also became streaming successes on Disney+. Her 2021 series WandaVision was exclusively released on Disney+, and her 2018 series Sorry for Your Loss was only available to stream on Facebook Watch.
While Olsen can’t always control where a movie will end up becoming available to audiences after the filming has wrapped, she’s notably been selective with her cinematic journey since flying out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2022. Earlier in 2025, she helmed the sci-fi thriller The Assessment, and is currently promoting her theatrical rom-com Eternity. She also recently worked with Julia Roberts and Joe Alwyn on the upcoming thriller Panic Carefully. And if you want to see these movies, you’re going to have to go to the theater.
