# spielberg argues streaming services are not cinema **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2019, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470 "2019-03-03T05:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/61 "2019-03-05T18:39:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > There are awards for TV. If it doesn’t ever play in a theater it shouldn’t be eligible for an Oscar. Again, these movies all met the requirements for the Academy Awards, which include a theatrical release. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/62 "2019-03-05T18:41:47Z")
Right, but the proposal from Spielberg is to _change_ the requirements to qualify for the Academy Awards. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/63 "2019-03-05T18:46:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Right, but the proposal from Spielberg is to _change_ the requirements to qualify for the Academy Awards. I’m responding directly to Quimby saying movies need to be in the theaters to qualify. They already do. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/64 "2019-03-05T18:55:44Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > So what is worrying him is that we will see a rise of a new type of movie which is essentially ‘big-budget art house’ that will make it impossible for ‘normal’ movies to compete in the Oscars. But why would it do that? If the ‘normal’ movie is good, then it should win. If it’s not, then it shouldn’t. It would only lose if the Oscars is specifically biased towards arthouse movies. If that is so, then that’s what he should try to fix. If a ‘normal’ movie can compete at the box office, it should be able to compete in an awards ceremony. Clearly people want to watch it, and thus find something worthy about it. You can’t correlate box office with quality directly, but it does show there’s quality among them. And if he’s worried he can’t compete there, then release movies in streaming. His movie he can’t create because it’s too artsy? Make it, but stream it. The problem is not that we need some awards to be artificially limited to the movies that get less money spent on them. Independent film awards already exist. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/65 "2019-03-05T19:04:25Z")
I consider streaming content the same as tv. Movies are big budget projects and require much longer time to film. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/66 "2019-03-05T20:28:30Z")
> **[Steven Spielberg Wants To Destroy Netflix Movies](https://www.cracked.com/article_26235_steven-spielberg-wants-to-destroy-netflix-movies.html)** > > Spielberg's attacks on the streaming site's movie cred make him a big blockbuster hypocrite > [@](#): > > According to Spielberg’s many rants in recent years, the streaming service is devaluing movies by changing the quintessential cinematic experience – which isn’t the least bit hypocritical coming from the man Alfred Hitchcock said forever changed the quintessential cinematic experience. Netflix immediately releasing its movies online lures people away from the theater, which is the only right way to watch movies. This is from the man who backed a company that wanted to deliver in-theater movies to your home for $50 a pop in 2016. After all, “there’s nothing like going to a big dark theater with people you’ve never met before” continued the director … who has spent millions of dollars on a private home cinema so exclusive it has a hidden entrance that only he has the key for. > > But Spielberg does have a point. Under the current Academy rules, movies barely have to be shown in theaters (and only in LA) to qualify for awards consideration. That makes it far too easy for studios (like Netflix) to abuse the minimum requirements and snag some Oscar noms for a sweet marketing bump. And the director knows what he’s talking about. After all, his movie The Post showed in only nine theaters for one week in 2017, which was all it needed for that precious Best Picture nomination a month later, by which time the movie was in wide release. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/67 "2019-03-05T20:38:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I consider streaming content the same as tv. > > Movies are big budget projects and require much longer time to film. Distribution method doesn’t really set cost or time. These movies aren’t necessarily being made for Netflix. Roma was filmed in 2016, Netflix picked it up in 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/68 "2019-03-05T20:56:03Z")
How many times has the film-going experience changed? Well, there was the shift from silents to talkies. Now you can’t even talk quietly in movie theaters. That sound gimmick got plenty of push-back. Then the intermission rose and fell. Older films were too short to need one, then the big epic movies, the ones which got roadshow releases, had to have one, and now the practice is dead, even with long movies. You can’t use the restroom without missing something and I’m sure concession sales have taken a hit. The roadshow itself is mostly gone, and with it reserved seats; reserved seats are starting to make a comeback, but the roadshow in all its Old Hollywood glamor isn’t. Really, the “movie palace” as a whole is extinct, with some arthouse cinemas manfully trying to keep some of the style but mainly succeeding at a Gloria Swanson-style faded glory. And they’re usually so _small_… There’s no way to come into a showing in the middle and stay until you could say “This is where we came in” and leave. People might still say “This is where we came in” and leave but most people have no idea where the phrase comes from and where it left to. _Thanks, Hitchcock!_ Second-run theaters are gone; the closest we have are arthouse cinemas playing classic cinema, which lacks the classic seediness of some cheap theater playing a faded blockbuster. It’s the whole theater/cinema thing, I’m sure. Anyway, you can get older movies on-demand and they’re still movies, so… I’m sure Spielberg wants me to stop thinking now. The only thing that’s remained constant is going to a specific location to watch a movie alongside (not _with_, _alongside_) complete strangers. Can you talk quietly? Is there going to be reserved seating and a big production made? Will you see completely disconnected shows before the main attraction? Will you be able to leave in the middle and come back without missing anything? Will you be able to see this show in a theater six months from now at a reduced price? Spielberg, like all preservationists, wants to preserve something which has already mutated substantially. He’s picking an arbitrary point in something’s evolution and saying, this is it, it changes no further. The fact the world went to see _Psycho_ at an appointed hour and heard the famous screams shows you how effective such people usually are. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/69 "2019-03-05T21:02:48Z")
One change you didn’t mention was the switch to widescreen images. Before television, movies were in a 4:3 aspect ratio and the widescreen standards like Cinerama were attempts at giving people something they couldn’t see at home. Of course, today, all televisions are widescreen (16:9 or similar). ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/70 "2019-03-05T21:07:53Z")
How would he know? He makes effete trash; but hey, as long as it makes money! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/71 "2019-03-05T21:26:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > One change you didn’t mention was the switch to widescreen images. Before television, movies were in a 4:3 aspect ratio and the widescreen standards like Cinerama were attempts at giving people something they couldn’t see at home. Of course, today, all televisions are widescreen (16:9 or similar). I also didn’t mention the rise of color, with the idea that it didn’t change the experience hugely, but maybe the rise of wide-screen movies was a bigger shift than I realize. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/72 "2019-03-05T21:28:42Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Again, these movies all met the requirements for the Academy Awards, which include a theatrical release. I understand that. Oscar eligible movies should get a real theatrical release to qualify not a token one. > [@MortSahlFan](#): > > How would he know? He makes effete trash; but hey, as long as it makes money! If you’re talking about Spielberg, this might be the most ridiculous statement in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/73 "2019-03-05T21:31:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, I came in just to say that. Show something a half-hour long in theaters? It’s short-form. Show something two hours long on TV? It’s long-form. > > Of course, the Hugos are in a genre that’s known for pushing boundaries, so they have a higher-than-normal proportion of weird edge cases. Like, if you have a comic strip that’s actually a silent movie played in extreme slow-motion, and it’s great science fiction, they’ll figure out some way to shoehorn it into some category. I nominated “Too Many Cooks” for short form a few years back (and a Hugo acceptance speech and Gollum’s MTV award acceptance speech both made the Hugo short list). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/74 "2019-03-05T23:02:34Z")
“You young whipper-snappers & your digital voodoos and hoodoos! GET OFFA MY LAWN!” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/75 "2019-03-06T02:02:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > But the point is that Netflix didn’t even try releasing Roma widely, and they certainly didn’t publish box office results. 😕 So you object because they won’t say how much money it’s making? Why should that matter? It played in around 100 theaters in the US, that’s more than many indie films. It’s _still playing_ today at a theater near me. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/76 "2019-03-06T04:43:12Z")
From the Onion: [Steven Spielberg Criticizes Netflix For Ruining Golden Age Of Pandering Big-Budget Corporate Films](https://entertainment.theonion.com/steven-spielberg-criticizes-netflix-for-ruining-golden-1833073436) > [@](#): > > LOS ANGELES—Arguing that the streaming service has severely hamstrung the ability of directors to create saccharine, artistically meritless garbage, Steven Spielberg criticized Netflix Tuesday for ruining the golden age of pandering big-budget films produced by media conglomerates. > > “We were living in a wonderful era of insipid franchise-driven blockbusters when, suddenly, Netflix comes along and screws everything up by giving a platform to underrepresented directors and helping connect audiences across the globe to risk-taking, idiosyncratic films that would never be made by a major studio,” said the director of Ready Player One and Jurassic Park, blasting the streaming service for sabotaging the halcyon days of lowest-common-denominator cinema that gave viewers absolutely no credit and merely indulged their basest instincts. > > “They should be ashamed. They’ve single-handedly put an end to dull, inoffensive films that privilege melodrama and spectacle over substance, not to mention the fact that they’ve eroded the influence of executives who only care about producing movies that make as much money as possible. There were so many great artists, myself included, who sold out decades ago and, as a result, no longer have the ability to make a movie as resonant as, say, Roma. What will happen to us?” > > At press time, Steven Spielberg quickly retracted all of his comments and began praising Netflix after the company offered him a multimillion-dollar, two-picture deal. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/77 "2019-03-06T05:24:27Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > This is the case. It’s about a fair playing field. If Spielberg makes a movie and no one watches it, the movie is a disaster and he’s in serious trouble. He is required by the nature of theater releases to make something that is commercially viable. Streaming studios don’t have to do that. Their goal is not to actually get someone to watch a film, but rather to make them think that their subscription to the service is valuable and worth continuing. A film like Roma is impossible to make for a studio who wants to release it commercially. It’s a Spanish language film made in black and white that is a drama period piece. It could be the greatest movie ever made and no one is going to the theater to see it. Spielberg has probably had dozens of similar ideas and knows that largely they just aren’t doable. So what is worrying him is that we will see a rise of a new type of movie which is essentially ‘big-budget art house’ that will make it impossible for ‘normal’ movies to compete in the Oscars. I’d be more sympathetic to this argument if Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube wouldn’t be falling over themselves to hand Spielberg a blank check if he wanted to make something for their services. But, overall, I agree with Spielberg. The Oscars are shit, and always have been. Anything that hurries their slide into cultural obsolescence is something I can absolutely get behind. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/78 "2019-03-06T14:19:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Movies are big budget projects and require much longer time to film. Season eight episodes for _Game of Thrones_ were budgeted for [$15-million](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/14/how-much-it-costs-to-produce-an-episode-of-game-of-thrones.html) each. That’s $120-million just for that season. If you factor in the preceeding seven seasons at a cost that escalated from $6- to $10-million I’m sure the project as a whole spent far more than any single movie, and most franchises. Now, I’m not saying _GoT_ should qualify for an Oscar, having no theatrical release at all, but the industry has been playing fast and loose with theatrical qualifications for a long time. Living in Orange county as a high schooler 50 years ago, I was aware of movies showing in Los Angeles in _one theater_ from Christmas Day to New years’ Eve – precisely a week – then vanishing for months until an Oscar buzz had built up. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/79 "2019-03-06T16:34:58Z")
Spielberg is great, but he’s not always right. Like in this case. The package/delivery of streaming video is different, but it’s still cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470/80 "2019-03-06T17:21:18Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Spielberg is great, but he’s not always right. Like in this case. The package/delivery of streaming video is different, but it’s still cinema. TV Movies can be Cinema and they should totally win an Emmy Award for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielberg-argues-streaming-services-are-not-cinema/830470.md?page=5)