Steven Spielberg may be open to making a movie for a streaming service in the future, but it sounds like he would like it to be on his terms.
The legendary director told The New York Times in an interview published online Wednesday that he felt his fellow filmmakers were being thrown ‘under the bus’ by Warner Bros.’ surprising announcement in late 2020 that all releases for the next year day-and-date would be available on HBO Max. Christopher Nolan was one of the notable names to criticize the decision at the time.
“The pandemic created an opportunity for streaming platforms to increase their subscriptions to record levels and also throw some of my best filmmaker friends under the bus for unceremoniously not releasing their movies in theaters,” Spielberg told the publication. “They got paid off and the movies were suddenly relegated to, in this case, HBO Max. The case I’m talking about.”
Spielberg said he attributes this moment to a shift in the way studios plan their theatrical releases. “And then everything started to change,” he continued. “I think the older crowd was relieved that they didn’t have to step on sticky popcorn. But I do believe that once that same older crowd, once they get into the theater, the magic of a social situation with a bunch of strangers is a tonic.
He said audiences who make the trip to theaters today feel like the trip is worth it if the movie is of a certain caliber. Then he put the responsibility on “the movies to be good enough to have all the audience say that to each other when the lights come back on.”
Spielberg said he was encouraged by the fact that Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis reached $100 million at the domestic box office this year. Spielberg also said that movie audiences seem to be strongly connected to his own new movie the fablesan Oscar contender that hits theaters November 11.
As he considered his future decisions, Spielberg said his 2017 film The mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep and nominated for six Oscars, might have been seen by more people if it debuted on a streaming platform. The director explained that he only recently realized that this might have been a better path for his film that told the story of… The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971.
“I don’t know if I would have gotten that script after the pandemic or if I would rather have made that movie for Apple or Netflix and gone to millions of people,” he said. “Because the movie had millions of people to say, and we would never get those millions of people in enough theaters to make that kind of difference. Things have changed enough for me to tell you that.”
The Hollywood Reporter contacted a Warner Bros. representative. for comment.
