Christopher Nolancertainly has a reputation for cherishing the theatrical experience. After all, he nearly single-handedly saved the celluloid industry a few years ago when studios were about to go all-digital—Nolan banded together like-minded filmmakers likeSteven Spielberg,Quentin Tarantino, andEdgar Wrightto lobby the film studios to maintain shooting on film as an option for directors. So it should come as little surprise that Nolan isn’t the biggest fan of Netflix’s distribution model for original films.
Speaking withIndiewire, Nolan didn’t parse words in voicing his displeasure with this admittedly strange decision on Netflix’s part:
“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.”
Nolan points to Amazon as a streaming service doing it the right way, as they send their original films to theaters for at least a 90-day window before putting them up on the streaming service. This resulted in spectacular box office and two Oscars forManchester by the Sea, so it’s not like the service is losing money or clout by sending their films to theaters beforehand.
But does Nolan at least find the creative freedom that Netflix is giving to filmmakers likeBong Joon HoandNoah Baumbachadmirable? Nope.
“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,” he said. “It’s so pointless. I don’t really get it.”
I’m happy that Netflix is financingMartin Scorsese’sThe Irishman, but it’s a shame that 99% of people are going to be watching that film on their TV or laptop. The theater is still the ideal viewing experience for feature films, so why is Netflix working so hard to push against it? I suppose because their business model is built on people consuming their content from the comfort of their own living room, but it’s still disappointing.
So yeah, don’t expect to see a Christopher Nolan original film pop up on Netflix anytime soon.
