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James Cameron, the award-winning director behind the "Avatar" franchise, recently lambasted Netflix's awards season campaign strategy as fundamentally corrupt during an appearance on "The Town" podcast. He argued that "films should be made for theatrical release, and if the Academy doesn't support theatrical exhibition, it's meaningless to me."
Cameron's criticism stems from Netflix's primary business as a streaming platform. He contends that the streamer only provides limited, brief theatrical runs for select films during awards season solely to meet the Academy's eligibility criteria for theatrical exhibition, viewing this as a cynical, opportunistic maneuver to game the system.
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While many in Hollywood advocate for the theatrical experience, Cameron's stance isn't universally embraced. South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, acclaimed for "Oldboy" and with a new film, "I Cannot Do Anything," recently released, offered a counterpoint. He stated that while he understood Cameron's intentions, he found the remarks "unrealistic" given the increasing number of excellent films produced specifically for streaming platforms.
Australian actor Joel Edgerton also shared his thoughts:
Edgerton further illustrated his point by recalling how many of his favorite films from the 1970s were not seen by him during their initial theatrical releases. Instead, he discovered them much later, watching worn-out VHS tapes on an old television, underscoring streaming's potential to broaden access to diverse cinematic works. He concluded, stating that while he would "still fight for the survival of cinema," he was also "a pragmatist."
via： Variety