• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Christopher Nolan criticizes Netflix's digital distribution model for movies

inm8num2

Member
He is the hero movie theaters need but not the one they deserve.

http://www.indiewire.com/2017/07/christopher-nolan-interview-dunkirk-netflix-1201857101/

“Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films,” Nolan said in an interview this week. “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.”

He pointed out that Amazon, which releases its movies in theaters before making them available on its platform, shouldn’t be lumped with Netflix for contributing this issue. “You can see that Amazon is very clearly happy to not make that same mistake,” he said. “The theaters have a 90-day window. It’s a perfectly usable model. It’s terrific.”

“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.”
 

Toothless

Member
He's right. The fact that Netflix barely released Okja and Beasts of No Nation in theaters is an insult to the very films they finance. They should do what Amazon does with a limited arthouse run with possibility of a wide-expansion, but then right on Netflix within a month of leaving theaters.
 
People want to watch movies at home. Point blank. If I could just order a new movie for 20$ on my cable box or through an internet site and skip the theatre then so be it. Not having to share a theatre with loud ass teenage kids will be a god send. Sorry Mr. Nolan but theatres are kind of a novelty this day and age.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
The times are a changing and I think this is less something Netflix is doing and just a change in how people enjoy their time. Same for eating out at restaurants when people would rather stay in and eat through cooking their own meals, delivery etc.
 

TMC

Member
People want to watch movies at home. Point blank. If I could just order a new movie for 20$ on my cable box or through an internet site and skip the theatre then so be it. Not having to share a theatre with loud ass teenage kids will be a god send. Sorry Mr. Nolan but theatres are kind of a novelty this day and age.

Agree with this. I would much rather have them available instantly on Netflix rather than waiting for them to come to Netflix after being in theatres. I just prefer watching movies in the comfort of my own home.
 
Sooner cinemas die the better.

no thanks

because of movie theaters I'm able to see movies 4 days after release for 6 dollars per ticket with a giant screen and surround sound


i would have paid 6 dollars to see beasts of no nation in theaters, I wish while netflix released movies digitally they also put them in theaters if possible
 
no thanks

because of movie theaters I'm able to see movies 4 days after release for 6 dollars per ticket with a giant screen and surround sound
Where the fuck do you go for that? Even matinees are like 11$ for me. Are you an employee for a theatre or something?
 

Raptor

Member
People want to watch movies at home. Point blank. If I could just order a new movie for 20$ on my cable box or through an internet site and skip the theatre then so be it. Not having to share a theatre with loud ass teenage kids will be a god send. Sorry Mr. Nolan but theatres are kind of a novelty this day and age.

Agreed!
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
They release it in theaters only because they want to be considered for awards. They don't give a shit about theatrical release otherwise.
 

mrndkra

Member
People want to watch movies at home. Point blank. If I could just order a new movie for 20$ on my cable box or through an internet site and skip the theatre then so be it. Not having to share a theatre with loud ass teenage kids will be a god send. Sorry Mr. Nolan but theatres are kind of a novelty this day and age.

+1 on this. I'd rather stay at home and pay a bunch more to watch the movie on my couch. Forget going to a theater that has parents bringing their babies and listening to them cry or having to deal with loud ass rude adults. I'd honestly pay up to $30 just for the convenience factor. Theaters suck unless they're empty when you go.
 
Where the fuck do you go for that? Even matinees are like 11$ for me. Are you an employee for a theatre or something?

AMC stubs card, it's like 12 bucks a year and gets a discount on movies for tuesday nights or weekday mornings

plus it works at any AMC, or at least the 3 ones I've gone to in my state (NJ)
 
For me certain films have always been about watching at home and others in the cinema. I always watch oscar bait, dramas and more serious things at home because it helps me take things in - cinemas are big explosions and stuff.
 
My issue with Netflix and the films they finance is how they seemingly dump them with hardly any fanfare and don't properly give it the support another film would if it was by a normal distributor.

I love watching movies in theater. I don't like watching at home all that much.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Uh no, if cinemas die then there goes the big budget special effects stuff. We'll just get made for tv movie level stuff going forward.

At this point is that a big insult? TV shows these days are looking as good as big budget movies.
 
My issue with Netflix and the films they finance is how they seemingly dump them with hardly any fanfare and don't properly give it the support another film would if it was by a normal distributor.

I love watching movies in theater. I don't like watching at home all that much.
Yep. They're treated like their original series as throwaway things.
 

kevin1025

Banned
As much as I love the theatre experience, I don't feel like I lost much watching Netflix originals at home. I imagine most movies are watched at home, if anything (in terms of the average movie watcher). Movies like Okja got a bigger audience out of Netflix than a smaller theatrical run, I would imagine.

That's not to see the cinema doesn't have its place, but I feel like for movies that end up limited releases or straight to DVD or end up falling off the radar from their film festival run, Netflix gives them a chance to exist. Both avenues have their place, and both avenues are worthwhile.
 
I'd pay for stuff on Netflix if it meant an actual high quality bitrate and not having to go to the cinema (first world luxuries and all that) but I suppose I'm a little nostalgic for the cinema. The industry is probably due for a change with the way people want to consume media today and Netflix is offering a way forward, although I feel like there'll probably be some middle ground between it and Amazon in the future.

If it's something filmed in IMAX, like Nolan's Dunkirk, I'm not gonna see it for the first time on my laptop or TV...I'm gonna go to the BFI Imax and see it on their big screen so that isn't going to die out....but my local cinema (ODEON Epsom) has cut back on services in many ways that it loses any personality and feels like a middle man. So it can go, idc.
 
Why the fuck would Netflix want people to go to the movies when they are trying to sell streaming subscriptions?

Also, he defends Amazon for trying to keep theaters alive, while Amazon is shutting down brick and mortar stores worldwide.

pfft

Shut up, Nolan. Go make another movie or something.
 
I love going to my local hipster type theater.

Has awesome lounge chairs and couches, they bring you food, and they have awesome beers.

It's more about movie theaters expanding what an experience is when you go to the theater.

I enjoy watching at home too but it's definitely not the same and I even have a projector.
 

BHK3

Banned
no thanks

because of movie theaters I'm able to see movies 4 days after release for 6 dollars per ticket with a giant screen and surround sound


i would have paid 6 dollars to see beasts of no nation in theaters, I wish while netflix released movies digitally they also put them in theaters if possible
Where the hell at? Only theater other than Regal here is a smaller theater that has terrible quality and seats for a few dollars cheaper. I rather movies day 1 on digital distribution like Netflix, theaters have gotten too expensive with no improvements.
 

bionic77

Member
People want to watch movies at home. Point blank. If I could just order a new movie for 20$ on my cable box or through an internet site and skip the theatre then so be it. Not having to share a theatre with loud ass teenage kids will be a god send. Sorry Mr. Nolan but theatres are kind of a novelty this day and age.
Totally disagree.

Very few people have a setup that will come close to the experience you get at the theater.
 

number11

Member
For those wanting to watch movies at home.. Netflix owns these films. If they release them in the theatres first, they're still gonna eventually be available on Netflix forever.

How many people sign up for Netflix just for their original movies anyway? Most of them are trash. Stuff like Okja though definitely deserves a theatre release.

A big problem is that Netflix buys a ton of indie movies and releases them with hardly any promotion. Not many people watch films they've never heard of.
 
AMC stubs card, it's like 12 bucks a year and gets a discount on movies for tuesday nights or weekday mornings

plus it works at any AMC, or at least the 3 ones I've gone to in my state (NJ)
Unfortunately I work nights so this isn't really convenient enough for me. I have a pretty good Home theatre setup so I would still rather watch from home. Two tickets to a movie is like 30$ plus any food I order is gonna cost me like 50$ a movie. Much rather pay 20$ to see at home and skip the theatre. Different strokes, different folks and all that.
 

Lebron

Member
What is he even arguing about? Times change. Go grab your bow and arrow and protest outside a gun store, old man.
 

kirblar

Member
He's wrong on this. Netflix is under no obligation to aid the theater system.
They're under no obligation to, but they're denying themselves revenue and denying the public the option to get the theater experience.

I agree w/ Nolan on this, it's a bad call on their part to eschew it for movies. TV's different.
 
It should be noted that Nolan FUCKING LOVES theater going, the whole experience, and never wants it to die.

Personally I dont think Netflix is trying to run theaters out of business. Even if they are, If anything I think theyve disrupted the home video market more than theater.

Netflix's model also is way different than a theaters. They dont need to sell out a bunch of theaters with individual ticket sales to make money. Their whole model is to create such a massive library of content that you subscribe, because theres an endless amount of good content to watch. They dont care if Okja doesnt get streamed by the whole world on day one. Its theirs, its not leaving their library.

I can get the same experience from a blu ray as I can netflix. Hell, using netflix is probably a BETTER experience than blu rays. But you cant replicate the theater experience at home.

Also, theaters arent without their own problems. Specialty theaters like movie taverns and alamo drafthouse and etc are doing a lot to combat them, but your traditional regal cinemas or whatever can be fucking nightmare because of the audience and 50+ dollars for a family to see a movie before they even get to the snack stand.
 
Top Bottom