There
are a number of filmmakers who are not fans of their films and others
eliminating the theatrical windows. They believe a film should be in theaters
for a while then come to home video and pay cable stations. Netflix prefers to
go day-and-date with their theatrical releases of if a film gets a limited run
in a movie theater its already part of their programming which means people stay
home instead of going out. Netflix has found that people would rather stay at
home and watch a film on their 50-inch or larger TV screens. One filmmaker who
hates the idea is Dunkirk’s Christopher Nolan. When out promoting his latest
film he told the press: “Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical
films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously
streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical
presentation. So they’re not even getting in the game, and I think they’re
missing a huge opportunity. I think the investment that Netflix is putting into
interesting filmmakers and interesting projects would be more admirable if it
weren’t being used as some kind of bizarre leverage against shutting down
theaters. It’s so pointless. I don’t really get it.” I can see his point because
I couldn’t imagine seeing Dunkirk at home as opposed to the Dolby enhanced
theater that I decided to go to. James Cameron is of the same mind as Nolan. |