The streaming vs. cinemas debate was weighed in on by filmmaker Joe Russo today, and there’s already a ton of reaction happening online in relation to what was said.
Joe and brother Anthony Russo have played both sides of the coin – the pair are notable for directing some of the biggest cinema releases ever with the most recent two “Avengers” and two “Captain America” films.
They’ve also had big success in streaming, producing the Chris Hemsworth-led Netflix hit “Extraction” while their big-budget “The Gray Man” starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans releases today in cinemas and on Netflix next week.
Speaking with THR, Joe Russo says Hollywood is facing a ‘culture war in relation to how films get made and released:
“We’re in crisis right now because everyone’s at war with each other. It’s sad to see, as guys who grew up loving film. A thing to remember, too, is it’s an elitist notion to be able to go to a theater. It’s very f–king expensive. So, this idea that was created – that we hang on to – that the theater is a sacred space, is bulls–t. And it rejects the idea of allowing everyone in under the tent.
Where digital distribution is valuable, other than what I said earlier about how it pushed diversity, is that people can share accounts; they can get 40 stories for the cost of one story. But having some kind of culture war about whether there’s value in that or not is f–king bananas to us.”
“The Gray Man” was shot and styled like a cinema release, including its gargantuan $200 million budget, but Joe says they are indifferent to the delivery method of their films:
“When we worked with Marvel, we travelled the world for a decade. What that allows you is an understanding that goes beyond a Hollywood-centric point of view of how to create content. We’re agnostic about delivery.
You know what might make everybody happy is Netflix starts doing 45-day windows and they have their giant digital distribution platform. Everybody wins. That feels like where it’s going.”
He also suggests that the moviegoing world needs to evolve beyond a cinematic model that reveres auteurs:
“Auteur filmmaking is 50 years old at this point. It was conceived in the 1970s. We grew up on that. We were kids, it was really important to us. But we’re also aware that the world needs to change and the more that we try to prevent it from changing, the more chaos we create. It’s not anyone’s place to reject the next generation’s ideas.
We love everything about classic cinema, but we’ve never been precious about that in any way, shape, or form. How do you get away from the old models? How do you reach audiences that haven’t been engaged before? That’s all the most interesting stuff to us.”
Talking about their partnership with Disney, Joe Russo says Netflix has been comparatively a much fresher and more dynamic place to work:
“Disney’s gone very conservative. Post-[Bob] Iger, they seem to be in IP management mode. You’re going to get all the ‘Star Wars’ and all the Marvel you can handle for the next decade. They’re all changing. It’s either a reinforced conservative approach from your traditional studios or it’s forcing a tech company like Netflix to rethink its entire model.
[Netflix’s] easier to work with than a traditional studio. [It’s] more the mentality of a tech company than a studio. They’re very hands-off. Nobody bothers yoy. They have a different approach to how they control the budget on the movie. It’s not as stressful as it is at a studio.”
The pair re-iterated this week they’d entertain the idea of a potential Marvel return for a “Secret Wars” adaptation but advised Deadline this week: “Trying to imagine making another two movies even bigger than those two [Avengers], we’re gonna have to sleep on it.”
The comments come as reviews for “The Gray Man” are not good, the movie sitting on just a 52% (5.8/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and a 49/100 on Metacritic.
Source: Indiewire
