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In recent years, Steven soderbergh has established a footprint in the streaming world. Have directed or produced content that went to Netflix, Quibi and soon HBO Max (with their new movie Let them all talk), Soderbergh has shown a willingness to embrace the growing world of streaming in a notable way. With that in mind, it seems natural that Soderbergh could be asked to comment on HBO Max’s recent announcement regarding the decision to release Warner Bros. ‘Slate 2021 – including large tent poles Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune, and The matrix 4 – on the streaming platform on the same day as their theatrical release. Does Soderbergh, a creative with experience with streamers, have strong opinions about sending potentially huge blockbusters to HBO Max at the risk of impacting movie theater attendance?
Turns out Soderbergh definitely has a few thoughts – and they’re not what you’d expect at all. the Let them all talk The director had the opportunity to discuss the Warner Bros.-HBO Max decision and whether it signals the end of theaters as we know it while promoting his upcoming film. The subject was brought up very early on in Soderbergh’s recent interview with The Daily Beast. Soderbergh initially shared the following on whether the announcement of Warner Bros.-HBO Max would mean the end of theaters as we know them.
“Not at all,” Soderbergh replied. “[The streaming push is] just a reaction to an economic reality that I think everyone will have to recognize soon, which is that even with a vaccine, movie theater will not be robust enough in 2021 to justify the amount of P&A you have to spend to put a movie in wide circulation. There is no scenario in which a movie theater 50% full, or at least not 100% full, is a viable paradigm to release a movie. But that will change. We will reach a point where anyone who wants to go to the movies will feel safe going to the movies. ”
Soderbergh continued with praise for the sobering film to temporarily promote the release of great streaming movies, explaining the financial implications of the decision: “I think someone sat down and did a very lucid analysis. of what COVID is going to do next year, even with a potential vaccine, and says, I don’t see that as achievable in 2021. Because let’s be clear: there is no windfall in the entertainment industry which is the equivalent of a film that brings in a billion dollars or more in theaters. It’s the holy grail. So the theater industry is not disappearing. There are too many companies that have invested too much money. money in the run-up to release a movie that explodes in theaters – there’s no such thing. It’s all going to come back. But I think Warners is saying: not as soon as you think. ”
When The Daily Beast asked Soderbergh if a potentially groundbreaking move like the one Warner Bros. made regarding moving its 2021 slate to HBO Max could have an irreversible impact on the theatrical exhibition, the director took a frank approach and optimistic about the problem.
“I think this will finally push studios and NATO (National Theater Owners Association) to have practical and realistic conversations about windowing,” Soderbergh told The Daily Beast, “because more fluidity is needed. There won’t be a template that fits every movie. Every movie is different. You need flexibility. If you’re in a bad situation and have a movie that you opened up big and you know that Friday at 3 p.m. it doesn’t work, you must be able to get it on a platform as quickly as possible. You spent so much money trying to make this work, and if not, you should be able to do whatever you want. The theaters are going to be pushing you anyway because you bombed. ”
As The Daily Beast and Soderbergh left this topic of conversation to focus on Let them all talk, Soderbergh was asked if he sees theaters becoming more of a place where they cater only to showing big budget, sprawling-level films (the implication being that this could be a good fit for bricks and mortar to recover in the near future). Soderbergh responded, in part, “One variable that hasn’t really been scaled up is that now that we live in a fully digital world, all of these big theater chains have the capacity to turn into movie theaters. repertoire they are shown in. movies from any period of the last 120 years for an audience that has never seen them in a theater. There are all those films from the 70s, 80s, 90s and early that no one only seen in a theater, “and” The other thing is, whenever we think it’s just going to be tents and blockbusters – and art-house movies on the other end, something appears in the middle and works. Downton abbey made a lot of money. This movie was coming out when we were talking with Warners about Let Them All Talk, and I pointed it out as an example of what I consider to be our audience. This is our demographics; it’s the audience I want. And look, they came for this. ”
Let them all talk arrives on HBO Max on December 10. Let them all talk trailer here and get more HBO Max updates here.
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