{"id":2790,"date":"2019-04-25T12:09:40","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T12:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/?p=2790"},"modified":"2019-04-29T14:47:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T14:47:25","slug":"saving-theatrical-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/endcrawl.com\/blog\/saving-theatrical-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Theatrical Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, director Wim Wenders set up a 16mm camera and tape recorder in a room at the Hotel Martinez, then invited a lineup of world-class filmmakers to sit next to a television and answer the question\u00a0“Is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?” <\/span><\/p>\n

Their responses were collected into the documentary Room 666<\/em><\/strong>, and of all the respondents \u2014 which include Werner Herzog (pictured above, turning off the television), Jean-Luc Godard, and Steven Spielberg\u00a0\u2014 only Michelangelo Antonioni foresaw a future in which cinema would not be lost or die, but, because of innovations in technology, transform into something else entirely. “Current structures will disappear,” he predicts.<\/span><\/p>\n

35 years later, much about the way we watch films and TV has changed, while\u00a0Netflix<\/strong> CEO Reed Hastings claims that the only innovation in the theatrical experience\u00a0<\/span>has been the popcorn<\/span><\/a>, a statement that illustrates the company\u2019s hostility towards the current structure of theatrical distribution. But\u00a0<\/span>with the recent news that <\/span>Netflix is now in the process of purchasing the historic Grauman\u2019s Egyptian movie theater<\/span><\/a> in Los Angeles \u2014 ostensibly to host events and qualify its own films for Oscar nomination \u2014 the conversation has become far more complicated this time around.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film v. television debate<\/h4>\n

Netflix’s Egyptian announcement comes in the wake of harsh criticism by none other than Steven Spielberg, who disagrees with the Motion Picture Academy\u2019s implementation of “Rule 2”, which says a film is eligible to be considered for an Oscar provided it receives a seven-day run in a Los Angeles theater. This leaves the door open for Netflix to submit their films for Oscar consideration, despite the company\u2019s limited commitment to theatrical releases. <\/span>\u201cOnce you commit to a television format, you\u2019re a TV movie,\u201d Spielberg says, presumably regarding all streaming platforms, in an interview with <\/span>ITV News<\/span>. \u201cYou certainly, if it\u2019s a good show, deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start there. (Relevant comments begin at 4:25.)<\/span><\/p>\n