Neflix CEO Ted Sarandos insists Barbie and Oppenheimer would have done just as well on Netflix, and that the theatrical experience is overrated.

He actually says "There’s no reason to believe that the movie itself is better in any size of screen for all people. My son’s an editor. He is 28 years old, and he watched ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ on his phone."

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/ted- ... 236016921/

Well that's absurd, but he's probably feeling emboldened by the miserable box-office returns of this weekend.

This summer is going to reignite the debate. With no Maverick or Barbenheimer in sight, theaters are going to struggle. Hollywood hasn't learned its lesson yet and seems hellbent on pushing out the same tired brands to diminishing returns.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2024 12:04 pm Well that's absurd, but he's probably feeling emboldened by the miserable box-office returns of this weekend.

This summer is going to reignite the debate. With no Maverick or Barbenheimer in sight, theaters are going to struggle. Hollywood hasn't learned its lesson yet and seems hellbent on pushing out the same tired brands to diminishing returns.

Obviously anyone who thinks a smartphone is an acceptable method to screen any film (let alone a 70mm epic) is a fool. And what is his son an "editor" of? Most likely Netflix ads and promos and other jobs his daddy tosses to him.

There's nothing to equal watching a movie like Top Gun: Maverick with an audience that is engaged. That said, at home I sit about six feet from a 65 inch screen -- which arguably makes for a better viewing than sitting off-center or in the back (or front!) row of a cinema.

Smartphone isn't good for anything except youtube when I'm trying to fix something

But TVs are another matter. I see everything on the biggest screen possible but our theater still has some ridiculously small junky screens where my home theater blows it out of the water

He's feeling frisky though because there's a segment of the casual audience that used to go to theaters on a regular basis that's gone and it's not coming back. If these fan based IPs don't deliver audiences on opening weekend then that film is dead. There's not enough of a marketplace there for that movie to recover now.

That's the point when these studios are going to wonder if instead of pumping out content to theaters, where there's no or not enough of an audience, they send it to streaming instead.

I feel strongly we are reaching that feast or famine moment where movie theaters are going to be exclusively home to massive behemoth franchises and "special events" with little else having support in that arena. Sadly.

A few years ago I saw Lawrence of Arabia in a local theater here in Oklahoma. I believe it was part of a TCM classic films series. They projected the film on a "regular" movie screen, so I didn't get the full 70mm experience, but just seeing the film on a regular movie screen was a revelation. The epic sweep of the film was jaw-dropping. I had goosebumps up and down my arms during the battle of Aqaba scene -- with those riders sweeping through the city to the coastline.

That 28-year-old may have watched Lawrence of Arabia on his phone, but he has never truly seen Lawrence of Arabia.

Absurd on its face.

While such a statement is utter stupidity it really comes as no surprise!

First allow me to state I had a career, that I loved every single day (even the bad days were not bad compared to say working in a coal mine!) that was 100% due to the American film industry so this is no way an attack on the US entertainment industry, it rules the world as going way back to the silent era those pioneers saw and understood how to make entrainment popular and appeal to a global market. Maybe not everything was able to be sold and somethings really never traveled well, comedy is one tough nut to crack. But 99% finds a market, television, then VHS (Beta, Video 2000, laser discs, VCD etc. all have had their place), discs and now it seems streaming.

But what has never ceased to amaze us non-American counterparts in film sales, distribution and even production, is the speed the American audiences chowed through product!

While in Europe a film could play for years in cinemas before a televised screening, example The Sound of Music played the same cinema in Wales for 20 years!! Simply because the market place outside the USA could take countless re-issues and further box office income.

Home entertainment decreased that time considerably and video piracy made it even more of a struggle but the American market really did eat up product at a considerable rate, therefore in today’s market Netflix and the statements originator clearly just sees this as an extension of what has been going on since the 1950’s.

I would also say that letter boxed films really suffer in the home environment unless you have a large screen, but does a wide screen image really suffer? For the huge vistas of say Lawrence of Arabia nothing in the home market compares but removing the tension aspect does The Shining suffer due to screen size providing the screen is suitable.

A phone of any kind is not suitable for anything other than maybe a trailer or an advert for the latest vehicle, the statement is utter nonsense. But the original writer whilst showing a certain amount of disrespect is really commenting on the market place, not the product and they may as well be selling biscuits (cookies) as really is there much difference between the store own brand and the known brand? Their use of example is ludicrous, but then how many of today’s viewers really know that Lawrence was filmed in 65mm with a maximum frame usage and screened expanded to 70mm with first run pristine “A” prints? Not many and sadly not many care. An audience who began a film life with tapes and move into DVD and just stream see it as a time filler and nothing else!

We pick up on it here as the visitors to sites as these have a love for films but as an example my young nephew just “watches” the program and shows no care, it fills a gap! Bit like a Burger King!

Silly statement but honestly, I get it, cinemas have not changed since the basic principle of light to image to screen, just more speakers, less seats and fads, 3-D anyone! the writer sees themselves as someone in a more advanced market.

Do I agree, not at all, if you enjoy the cinema experience nothing beats it, a horror film is scarier in a dark room all jumping at once, a comedy is funnier and action films more exhilarating, the audience counts but the market place has moved, sadly the product providers the studios and co financiers have not.

Enjoy what you can where you can while you can

Andy b