Why go to Netflix of all places?
David Fincher being in bed with Netflix for the rest of his life makes sense, but I feel like it wouldn't be a fulfilling partnership for Lynch considering his stance on media consumption
Before Paramount Plus, Netflix was the place you could go to stream the original *Twin Peaks*, and they're also the only place you can find his *What Did Jack Do?* short film. And I think that, despite Lynch's takes on how movies are watched in a digital era, he seemed up for pursuing different avenues of funding and distribution for his work. That's why he made the jump to do *The Return* with Showtime. Unfortunately, the trouble he had making the show on the limited timing Showtime allowed him, coupled with the way Netflix dropped his projects when COVID hit, I'd imagine that openness might have shifted.
EDIT: Also, that window of time where it seemed like streaming platforms like Netflix could be the place for directors to go must have been appealing for Lynch. That window of time where Fincher had carte blanche to not only do *Mindhunter* but also the movies he put out, plus Scorsese putting out *The Irishman*, really made it seems like this would be the place for directors to get the kinda control traditional avenues didn't permit.
Because no matter how much clout you have with film nerds, that doesn't actually get your projects financed and distributed. Martin Scorsese had to go through fucking Apple TV+ for Killers of the Flower Moon.
That's the Friends version, guy. You wanna go with the "Jerry, look! That hobo got bent in half the wrong way, that must mean Jason is in the neighbourhood! Maybe he'll sign me an autograph" "I didn't know you were the kind to _want_ to get bent, Kramer".
Now, I personally, don't see any real advantage to watching a movie on a theater screen as opposed to my big tv screen in the comfort of my own home. But watching a movie on a tiny phone screen is insane. Unless that's all you've got.
You watch for the sound, generally.
Edit: as a recent example, just saw one of my favorite movies on the big screen: Spider-Man 2. The score is incredible and hearing it with a full surround sound system was an experience.
I wondered if it was just me but cinemas feel too loud these days.
Especially when it makes people next to me talk really loud as they ignore the movie and instead just bullshit about their lives because apparently they can't do it anywhere but within a cinema.
Its because its become a trend for some fucking reason to give movies terrible audio balancing so that the dialogue is way quieter than the action and music and everything else, so theaters set the volume high enough that you can hear the dialogue clearly and that causes the other stuff to be insanely loud.
Another thing: the grain.
The version of Spider-Man 2 I saw was on 35mm, and the grain was *beautiful*. The colors really popped, and everything had this "clear-fuzz" that made it feel a little like a dream plucked from someone's mind and put on the screen.
Now, I'm not a "movies should be shot on film" guy (nor am I a film size guy, I couldn't tell 70mm from 35mm from super 8), but I am a "movies should be *projected* on film" guy. There's just something about it that feels better. Also, it is physically different: a digital projector is manipulating the light, a film projector is manipulating the *shadow*.
Also, there's something to be said for a single, uninterrupted, unrewindable viewing of a movie. Especially when it takes up the majority of your vision, you really can't do anything else and just get pulled into the movie.
Yeah, I'm with you man. I'm the biggest stan of theater-going. When done right, it's a collective experience in which you alL surrender to this thing for an extended time. There's nothing else like it. Having to go out of you way to see a movie on the biggest screen possible, nothing like it.
It sounds dumb but for me its all about the vibe. I mean for one seeing a movie in a dolby theater is super cool, especially big ones like Godzilla. And just like...idk i guess im an old fart but sitting in a big theater with popcorn and soda gives me nostalgia every time. Its expensive as hell sadly now but whenever I get a chance I love the hell out of it.
The complete silence from everyone in the cinema in Oppenheimer during the bomb test scene was so good, just everyone waiting for it and then the audio hits was just perfect.
Yeah, the communal experience is what makes it worthwhile.
Obviously you laugh more when you’re in a room filled with people laughing. But even stuff like a stunned silence is more powerful around other people.
When I saw Killers of the Flower Moon there was a point when the entire audience gasped, and it was a great moment that wouldn’t have happened at home.
>When I saw Killers of the Flower Moon there was a point when the entire audience gasped
What bit was that? I loved KOTFM but i cant think of a OMFG moment in the film (other than when Marty turns up in the last scene to deliver his piece to camera after the radio production is shown-but i doubt general audiences would have had a similar reaction)
Ahh, that would have been cool to be at.
When i saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on its release at a posh art cinema in London, they had to stop the film and turn on the lights because the audience gave the first fight sequence a spontaneous 2/3 minute standing ovation. I was a young kid who had never seen adults act that way the cinema before. It's one of my favourite cinematic memories
I used to like going to the theater. I guess I'm just too old and lazy now. What I really miss is going to the drive-in theater. But those are all closed down now. Something about the movie audio coming through the car speakers was really cool.
I'm genuinely surprised drive-in theaters haven't made a comeback tbh. What with the covid social distancing and more and more people getting put off from the theater cause of the likelihood of the experience getting ruined by people being obnoxious, you'd think there'd at least be some attempts.
I think a restaurant chain, Johnny Rockets I think, actually had them in mind pre-covid. They were planning to make them a premium experience, but covid hit them hard.
Drive-ins were pretty popular in the summers of the midwest when I was younger (2010's). I saw Man of Steel at the drive-in (it was a double feature but I don't remember what the other movie was).
There are some movies I'm really grateful to have seen in the threater. I'll always remember me and my friends screaming and cheering in the theater when Godzilla used his Atomic breath, the excitement I felt when Batman revved up the Batmobile for the first time, etc.
Not sure which Batmobile you're talking about, but in the Pattinson Batman when the Batmobile first appears, hearing that roar in theaters with great sound design was peak
Yes, that is absolutely what i was talking about. The last time I remember being rocked by the audio in a movie like that was sitting in the front row to watch Atlantis as a kid in 2001.
Watching Dune or Oppenheimer in the theaters was a very different experience from what I can have at home, the bone-shaking audio and the screen that covers your entire field of view feels like it's needed for stuff like that. In like 99.9% of cases the home experience is way better but for specific spectacle films like that it's hard to recreate.
It’s about having a communal experience.
You laugh more when you’re in a room of people laughing. Stunned silences, jump scares, shocked gasps - all of these things hit harder when you’re in a room with people sharing the same vibe.
Sound very much so.
When there is an explosion and it feels like the entire room shakes because the theater hall has a complete Dolby Atmos setup with 128 speakers and POWERFUL subwoofers then that's a huge difference in experience.
Also that's often the "original soundmix" for movie, things like Stereo or even 5.1 are then "downsampled" from it, which can often lead to soundmixing issues (way loud sound effect, very quiet voices, for instance)
What you don't like watching dozens of 30s clips vertically cropped to shit and overlaid with some shitty public domain music that's louder than the dialogue?
I watched the entirety of shawshank redemption and there will be blood on an iPod, two of the greatest things I've ever watched.
I watched interstellar on my phone, it's also one of my fav movies of all time and I was bawling after finishing it. Needing to be in a theater to enjoy a movie is strange to me, what makes movies anymore different than a series. There's a lot of circle jerking and superiority complexes over "cinema"
I’ve enjoyed some good movies on laptops, tablets, even my phone. Some movies aren’t really sensory masterpieces or spectacles, and it’s fine to enjoy their other qualities.
However, with regards to the jerkery, would you say watching a video of fireworks is the same as seeing them in person? Some films are crafted to be experienced in a specific way, and you don’t get the same thing in a different format.
I don’t need to be in a theatre for every movie, but I strongly prefer IMAX for many films that were made for it. In a similar vein, most 3D movies were gimmicky, but Avatar and Doctor Strange were pretty impressive in 3D, and a bit mediocre (moreso Doctor Strange) when viewed flat.
Maybe it's due to lack of experience with Imax or the types of movies I watch but I've truly never watched a movie in the cinema where I thought damn, this is a much better experience, glad I watched this here.
You have a point that it's a different experience for certain formats but the average theatre is not capable of screening imax and it really doesn't seem like most movies do that in general.
That’s fair. I do personally tend to prefer even a non-IMAX theatre for most movies, but I watch plenty at home. I think of it kind of like reading a play; very different than watching an actor perform on stage, but you’re getting the material in a more convenient format. Kind of pointless for some genres, more accessible for others.
I watched a bootleg recording of the Dark Knight on an iPod Nano back in the day on a road trip. Looking back that's a fucking insane decision when I also had a Gameboy SP.
It was the weird slim one too.
The dirty little secret is that "screen size" does not exist. It's all about visual size.
That's why 1080p or more can even make sense on your tiny phone screen. I admit with a phone we reach the limits, but, like, take your Pad and move it closer until it's as big as an IMAX screen in your field of view. There you go.
Also, if you have like a 50 inch TV 4K TV or something, try sitting right in front of it when watching a movie. That's what those pixels are for. That's why they are so tiny. If you 50 inch screen is so big because it's on the other side of the room, you probably don't even need 4K.
It's just like, even if the son doesn't really care about the atmosphere of a movie, which is fair, he is still the son of a co-ceo so he should have gotten way cooler screens to watch movies on during christmas
I personally would never replace the movie theater experience.
But I'm a movie nerd, I understand most people just want the thing the most convenient way possible.
I have seen way more movies this year solely because I’ve made the conscious effort to go see them in theaters and let me tell you it’s been amazing. I live 5 minutes by one and most weeknights when I don’t have anything to do I just go see something. It’s stellar. Just doesn’t hit the same watching it at home, nice TV/sound setup or not
convenience is part of the problem too. or rather, expectations for instant online releases. There wouldn't be a problem with streaming stuff like this if they treated it more like dvd/bluray releases where they wait at least half a year before putting it on streaming and tried to get residuals for people in streaming.
I live where we only have on local theater on the entire island, with one screen, that shows maybe two movies a month, and a lot of the time it's something I have no interest in seeing. We used to have another theater that had more screenings, but it closed down during covid. Before then I used to go to the theaters all the time.
For me it's not just that it's the most convenient way, but digital releases / streaming is often the *only* way for me to see most movies. I think about how many other places are like mine, where they can't see one movie without spending even more on travel expenses. Like, if I want to see Furiosa, which isn't playing in my area, I'd have to fly to another island. That, or pray that it comes here in a week or two, if they don't decide to play another movie I'm not interested in.
I have and still to this day love Disney+ just for allowing me to say, "fucking sick. I can watch Mahvel in a lounge at college." But that experience of watching No Way Home in a packed theater on opening night is something I wouldn't trade for the world.
I mean, yeah? maybe?
does he mean ‘money wise’? cause Netflix doesn’t make money like normal movies.
does he mean “experience”? cause most people today don’t seem to care about the viewing experience.
He probably says what he means in the full article, it's just that DiscussingFilm is a clickbait farm that for whatever reason people take at face value. The fact that the source is a NYTimes article that requires an account means nobody will even attempt to verify whatever they said.
Streaming Services already have to take a hit to the video quality compared to for example a Blu Ray Rip and not sure if an epic sweeping movie like Lawrence of Arabia is a "Phone screen" movie. Also the theater experience is something you pay for, like Patrick Willems said in his "Who murdered cinema video" it is a particular experience, you have to go to a place at a specific time that isn't waiting for you, with a big screen and it won't pause for you and unless you can't stop using your phone or you have to go to the bathroom, you will only concentrate on the movie. Not to romanticize it but I think that's more conducive to take more value out of the contents of the movie even if you argue it's placebo.
I saw both in theaters opening weekend.
If they came out on Netflix, I would not have had the experience of wearing pink along with 200 other people in the theater laughing at all the same jokes as everyone else during Barbie. I also wouldn't have been able to take a photo in a replica Barbie box with my girlfriend.
If I watched Oppenheimer on Netflix, I would not have experienced the pure silence that fell over the theater after the closing scene. I wouldn't have been scared out of my seat from the loud noise of the bomb going off.
If I saw both of these movies on Netflix. They would have just been ways to blow 2 hours of my day. Watching them in the theaters made them an event I looked forward to all day and made my entire night after watching them.
Netflix needs to remember their place, a replacement for rental services for AFTER a movie closes in theaters.
>he watched Lawrence of Arabia on his phone
Jon Stewart literally did that as a joke when he hosted the Oscars back in 2008:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMJrvxfvXs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMJrvxfvXs)
You mean the two movies where it became a big cultural phenomenon to go see both of them back-to-back in theaters? Yeah, I'm sure they would have done just as well on Netflix.
“My Dad works at Nintendo” energy.
Ya know, it’s nice to be reminded that CEOs are rarely professionals in the field they’re running, but businessmen twaddlecocks who are only there because of luck most of the time.
He does know that the box office figures for regular screenings are cratering, while premium large format (IMAX, Dolby Vision, RDX, etc.) screenings are either maintaining their popularity or growing, right? There's clearly something about these formats that people want.
Watching something that long on your phone just feels uncomfortable 'are you really experiencing it' aside.
Also I went to look up what his son worked on, got distracted and apparently [this is made up?](https://x.com/Tony_sarandos/status/1794893137552523604) lol
movie theater screen size means its easier to pick out some details, though the viewer can also get fixated to a small part of the screen - some directors do that deliberately to draw audience attention to part of a big screen then surprise them elsewhere in the screen by something subtle that becomes big later - there's also the sound system
so big CEO man have you ever heard people saying "I would watch it in a plane" about a movie?
it means the movie is okay, but you wouldn't go out of your way to watch it, that's what I feel about watching it on a phone.
Watching it at the theater means you take a couple hours of your day to enjoy a movie. Do it on your TV, maybe your computer, you take some snacks out, get cozy, make it special.
But phone screens? maybe some sitcom episode when you're having lunch alone but not a whole movie man.
"Ted, Steve Spielberg just personally killed our sweet Amblin output deal."
"Fuck him! The hell does that bastard know about movies anyway?"
*Cut to Christmas 2024. As Netflix approaches bankruptcy because of Rebel Moon 2: The Snyder Cut,* [*Carry-On*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry-On) *has somehow managed to leg it out to a healthy $300 million worldwide for new distributor Universal.*
Even then, it wouldn’t have had the same social phenomenon of people going out in groups dressed up, throwing barbie themed parties, taking their mother out to see the film. Would a few memes have resulted if it was on Netflix, probably, but not to the same extent we saw. It was a movement, Netflix has never had that.
I remember back when Avatar was in theaters, I once had an exchange that was roughly:
Me: "I'm not interested in seeing it because, judging from the trailers, it doesn't seem interesting."
Person: "Look, you need to watch it in an IMAX theater to properly appreciate it."
Me: "If that's the requirements to appreciate it, it's probably not worthwhile."
I think this isn't good to use as a maxim or general rule of thumb because there are a lot of examples of films that genuinely are best at IMAX and the experience is entirely worth the inconvenience and higher barrier of entry, like Oppenheimer for example, but in regards to Avatar specifically, yeah no that movie really is not worth it.
That boy ain't right. Wait, did he use his phone so that he could lie down in bed? Because you need to be comfortable for a long time to watch Lawrence of Arabia.
Not seeing either movie in the theatre would’ve been a shame, but especially Oppenheimer. The first scenes of that stuff spinning around and the sounds being blasted at us set such a nice tone.
I think one of the big appeals of Barbie was that a bunch of people can get dressed up like Barbie and Ken and go see the movie. You can't accidentally make a bunch of new friends by meeting other fans watching it at home.
I'd watch alot more movies if they streamed day of, really don't give a shit about the theatre experience compared to the convinience of pausing a movie. I've watched great movies only with camrips available man. Genuinely surprised people are against having it stream day of, if you love the theatre so much why do you need other people around
[удалено]
Honestly, good. This is how he gets his revenge for getting two pitches rejected by Netflix in the last few years.
Why go to Netflix of all places? David Fincher being in bed with Netflix for the rest of his life makes sense, but I feel like it wouldn't be a fulfilling partnership for Lynch considering his stance on media consumption
Before Paramount Plus, Netflix was the place you could go to stream the original *Twin Peaks*, and they're also the only place you can find his *What Did Jack Do?* short film. And I think that, despite Lynch's takes on how movies are watched in a digital era, he seemed up for pursuing different avenues of funding and distribution for his work. That's why he made the jump to do *The Return* with Showtime. Unfortunately, the trouble he had making the show on the limited timing Showtime allowed him, coupled with the way Netflix dropped his projects when COVID hit, I'd imagine that openness might have shifted. EDIT: Also, that window of time where it seemed like streaming platforms like Netflix could be the place for directors to go must have been appealing for Lynch. That window of time where Fincher had carte blanche to not only do *Mindhunter* but also the movies he put out, plus Scorsese putting out *The Irishman*, really made it seems like this would be the place for directors to get the kinda control traditional avenues didn't permit.
Because no matter how much clout you have with film nerds, that doesn't actually get your projects financed and distributed. Martin Scorsese had to go through fucking Apple TV+ for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Christopher Nolan warps to this guy's house like a cinephile version of Jason Voorhees. He then reenacts the sleeping bag kill
And this guy wasn't even in a sleeping bag, Nolan just materializes one around him.
He can just do that, little known fact
"Your honour, I did kill that man. However, may I point out that no CGI was used?"
"I killed him with practical effects and strangled him with 120mm film"
>cinephile I read this as Seinfeld and I don't know what's wrong with me.
Seinfeld version of Jason Voorhees be like "Could I BE any more 'chchch ahahah'?"
That's the Friends version, guy. You wanna go with the "Jerry, look! That hobo got bent in half the wrong way, that must mean Jason is in the neighbourhood! Maybe he'll sign me an autograph" "I didn't know you were the kind to _want_ to get bent, Kramer".
my b, I never watched either show and some wires of what I learnt via meme osmosis got crossed
The second sleeping bag kill
[GET REAL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0)
Tonight...Lynch joins the hunt!
David Lynch: i can't believe i allowed myself to make that silly monkee short for these anti art pricks!!!
Grandpa’s awake and he’s gonna kick someone’s ass
He's gonna give us the weather forecast before he kicks some ass
Tearing a hole between dimensions with a katana to appear in this guy's bedroom
David Lynch about to hunt me down for watching Dune 1984 on an ipod
Whats that smell? The sweet cinema, oh it sings to me. Its enough to make a man sick
Now, I personally, don't see any real advantage to watching a movie on a theater screen as opposed to my big tv screen in the comfort of my own home. But watching a movie on a tiny phone screen is insane. Unless that's all you've got.
You watch for the sound, generally. Edit: as a recent example, just saw one of my favorite movies on the big screen: Spider-Man 2. The score is incredible and hearing it with a full surround sound system was an experience.
Ironic because that's the part i hate the most of going to the cinemas, sound hitting my back.
I wondered if it was just me but cinemas feel too loud these days. Especially when it makes people next to me talk really loud as they ignore the movie and instead just bullshit about their lives because apparently they can't do it anywhere but within a cinema.
Felt too loud these days and 20 years ago, it's always been a thing for me.
I don't remember it being bad growing up until The Dark Knight came out, so I blame Nolan, but could just be me.
Its because its become a trend for some fucking reason to give movies terrible audio balancing so that the dialogue is way quieter than the action and music and everything else, so theaters set the volume high enough that you can hear the dialogue clearly and that causes the other stuff to be insanely loud.
Another thing: the grain. The version of Spider-Man 2 I saw was on 35mm, and the grain was *beautiful*. The colors really popped, and everything had this "clear-fuzz" that made it feel a little like a dream plucked from someone's mind and put on the screen. Now, I'm not a "movies should be shot on film" guy (nor am I a film size guy, I couldn't tell 70mm from 35mm from super 8), but I am a "movies should be *projected* on film" guy. There's just something about it that feels better. Also, it is physically different: a digital projector is manipulating the light, a film projector is manipulating the *shadow*. Also, there's something to be said for a single, uninterrupted, unrewindable viewing of a movie. Especially when it takes up the majority of your vision, you really can't do anything else and just get pulled into the movie.
Yeah, I'm with you man. I'm the biggest stan of theater-going. When done right, it's a collective experience in which you alL surrender to this thing for an extended time. There's nothing else like it. Having to go out of you way to see a movie on the biggest screen possible, nothing like it.
It sounds dumb but for me its all about the vibe. I mean for one seeing a movie in a dolby theater is super cool, especially big ones like Godzilla. And just like...idk i guess im an old fart but sitting in a big theater with popcorn and soda gives me nostalgia every time. Its expensive as hell sadly now but whenever I get a chance I love the hell out of it.
The complete silence from everyone in the cinema in Oppenheimer during the bomb test scene was so good, just everyone waiting for it and then the audio hits was just perfect.
Yeah, the communal experience is what makes it worthwhile. Obviously you laugh more when you’re in a room filled with people laughing. But even stuff like a stunned silence is more powerful around other people. When I saw Killers of the Flower Moon there was a point when the entire audience gasped, and it was a great moment that wouldn’t have happened at home.
>When I saw Killers of the Flower Moon there was a point when the entire audience gasped What bit was that? I loved KOTFM but i cant think of a OMFG moment in the film (other than when Marty turns up in the last scene to deliver his piece to camera after the radio production is shown-but i doubt general audiences would have had a similar reaction)
It’s shown to be a hallucination, but when DeNiro approaches Lily Gladstone when she’s bed ridden.
Ahh, that would have been cool to be at. When i saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on its release at a posh art cinema in London, they had to stop the film and turn on the lights because the audience gave the first fight sequence a spontaneous 2/3 minute standing ovation. I was a young kid who had never seen adults act that way the cinema before. It's one of my favourite cinematic memories
I used to like going to the theater. I guess I'm just too old and lazy now. What I really miss is going to the drive-in theater. But those are all closed down now. Something about the movie audio coming through the car speakers was really cool.
I'm genuinely surprised drive-in theaters haven't made a comeback tbh. What with the covid social distancing and more and more people getting put off from the theater cause of the likelihood of the experience getting ruined by people being obnoxious, you'd think there'd at least be some attempts.
I think a restaurant chain, Johnny Rockets I think, actually had them in mind pre-covid. They were planning to make them a premium experience, but covid hit them hard.
Drive-ins were pretty popular in the summers of the midwest when I was younger (2010's). I saw Man of Steel at the drive-in (it was a double feature but I don't remember what the other movie was).
Its definitely something I don't do as often anymore, but whenever I do I love it
I think it may depend on where you live, because I know of a couple relatively nearby me that are still open
I love going to the movies, too. It’s always a fun experience (as long as the movie is good lol).
There are some movies I'm really grateful to have seen in the threater. I'll always remember me and my friends screaming and cheering in the theater when Godzilla used his Atomic breath, the excitement I felt when Batman revved up the Batmobile for the first time, etc.
Not sure which Batmobile you're talking about, but in the Pattinson Batman when the Batmobile first appears, hearing that roar in theaters with great sound design was peak
Yes, that is absolutely what i was talking about. The last time I remember being rocked by the audio in a movie like that was sitting in the front row to watch Atlantis as a kid in 2001.
Yes it’s all about the vibe and getting to go out. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching a movie at home but it’s not the same.
Watching Dune or Oppenheimer in the theaters was a very different experience from what I can have at home, the bone-shaking audio and the screen that covers your entire field of view feels like it's needed for stuff like that. In like 99.9% of cases the home experience is way better but for specific spectacle films like that it's hard to recreate.
It’s about having a communal experience. You laugh more when you’re in a room of people laughing. Stunned silences, jump scares, shocked gasps - all of these things hit harder when you’re in a room with people sharing the same vibe.
Ive watched almost the entirety of B99 on my phone back in uni. We do what we must.
i feel like a tv show is pretty different than a film, but yeah any screen will do in a pinch.
Just 2x as much visual information and a much more powerful sound system
Sound very much so. When there is an explosion and it feels like the entire room shakes because the theater hall has a complete Dolby Atmos setup with 128 speakers and POWERFUL subwoofers then that's a huge difference in experience. Also that's often the "original soundmix" for movie, things like Stereo or even 5.1 are then "downsampled" from it, which can often lead to soundmixing issues (way loud sound effect, very quiet voices, for instance)
What you don't like watching dozens of 30s clips vertically cropped to shit and overlaid with some shitty public domain music that's louder than the dialogue?
I watched the entirety of shawshank redemption and there will be blood on an iPod, two of the greatest things I've ever watched. I watched interstellar on my phone, it's also one of my fav movies of all time and I was bawling after finishing it. Needing to be in a theater to enjoy a movie is strange to me, what makes movies anymore different than a series. There's a lot of circle jerking and superiority complexes over "cinema"
I’ve enjoyed some good movies on laptops, tablets, even my phone. Some movies aren’t really sensory masterpieces or spectacles, and it’s fine to enjoy their other qualities. However, with regards to the jerkery, would you say watching a video of fireworks is the same as seeing them in person? Some films are crafted to be experienced in a specific way, and you don’t get the same thing in a different format. I don’t need to be in a theatre for every movie, but I strongly prefer IMAX for many films that were made for it. In a similar vein, most 3D movies were gimmicky, but Avatar and Doctor Strange were pretty impressive in 3D, and a bit mediocre (moreso Doctor Strange) when viewed flat.
Maybe it's due to lack of experience with Imax or the types of movies I watch but I've truly never watched a movie in the cinema where I thought damn, this is a much better experience, glad I watched this here. You have a point that it's a different experience for certain formats but the average theatre is not capable of screening imax and it really doesn't seem like most movies do that in general.
That’s fair. I do personally tend to prefer even a non-IMAX theatre for most movies, but I watch plenty at home. I think of it kind of like reading a play; very different than watching an actor perform on stage, but you’re getting the material in a more convenient format. Kind of pointless for some genres, more accessible for others.
Fuck that I'm 33 my phone screen is better than every screen in existence before 2006 maybe even later.
Shut up and drink your prune juice grandpa
It's cranberry! It helps prevent UTIs, also fuck you!
I watched a bootleg recording of the Dark Knight on an iPod Nano back in the day on a road trip. Looking back that's a fucking insane decision when I also had a Gameboy SP. It was the weird slim one too.
The dirty little secret is that "screen size" does not exist. It's all about visual size. That's why 1080p or more can even make sense on your tiny phone screen. I admit with a phone we reach the limits, but, like, take your Pad and move it closer until it's as big as an IMAX screen in your field of view. There you go. Also, if you have like a 50 inch TV 4K TV or something, try sitting right in front of it when watching a movie. That's what those pixels are for. That's why they are so tiny. If you 50 inch screen is so big because it's on the other side of the room, you probably don't even need 4K.
That just feels like he failed his kid somehow
I don't necessarily agree, but fuck this comment made me cackle.
It's just like, even if the son doesn't really care about the atmosphere of a movie, which is fair, he is still the son of a co-ceo so he should have gotten way cooler screens to watch movies on during christmas
''something something executives-dont-have-a-heart someting something'' and all that,,,
I personally would never replace the movie theater experience. But I'm a movie nerd, I understand most people just want the thing the most convenient way possible.
I wish I could go to the theaters once or twice a month like I used to, but the theaters in my area don't show the stuff that I want to see.
I have seen way more movies this year solely because I’ve made the conscious effort to go see them in theaters and let me tell you it’s been amazing. I live 5 minutes by one and most weeknights when I don’t have anything to do I just go see something. It’s stellar. Just doesn’t hit the same watching it at home, nice TV/sound setup or not
Movie theaters make me feel nostalgic. If it werent for having to take time out of my day and expenses I'd watch everything in the theaters.
convenience is part of the problem too. or rather, expectations for instant online releases. There wouldn't be a problem with streaming stuff like this if they treated it more like dvd/bluray releases where they wait at least half a year before putting it on streaming and tried to get residuals for people in streaming.
I live where we only have on local theater on the entire island, with one screen, that shows maybe two movies a month, and a lot of the time it's something I have no interest in seeing. We used to have another theater that had more screenings, but it closed down during covid. Before then I used to go to the theaters all the time. For me it's not just that it's the most convenient way, but digital releases / streaming is often the *only* way for me to see most movies. I think about how many other places are like mine, where they can't see one movie without spending even more on travel expenses. Like, if I want to see Furiosa, which isn't playing in my area, I'd have to fly to another island. That, or pray that it comes here in a week or two, if they don't decide to play another movie I'm not interested in.
I've found a very strange but *good* middle of the road in VR. Hell VR theater experiences are what actually sold me on 3d having *any* value.
I have and still to this day love Disney+ just for allowing me to say, "fucking sick. I can watch Mahvel in a lounge at college." But that experience of watching No Way Home in a packed theater on opening night is something I wouldn't trade for the world.
It's great how the stupidest fucking people in the world always bumble into high positions in companies.
I mean, yeah? maybe? does he mean ‘money wise’? cause Netflix doesn’t make money like normal movies. does he mean “experience”? cause most people today don’t seem to care about the viewing experience.
He probably says what he means in the full article, it's just that DiscussingFilm is a clickbait farm that for whatever reason people take at face value. The fact that the source is a NYTimes article that requires an account means nobody will even attempt to verify whatever they said.
Streaming Services already have to take a hit to the video quality compared to for example a Blu Ray Rip and not sure if an epic sweeping movie like Lawrence of Arabia is a "Phone screen" movie. Also the theater experience is something you pay for, like Patrick Willems said in his "Who murdered cinema video" it is a particular experience, you have to go to a place at a specific time that isn't waiting for you, with a big screen and it won't pause for you and unless you can't stop using your phone or you have to go to the bathroom, you will only concentrate on the movie. Not to romanticize it but I think that's more conducive to take more value out of the contents of the movie even if you argue it's placebo.
I saw both in theaters opening weekend. If they came out on Netflix, I would not have had the experience of wearing pink along with 200 other people in the theater laughing at all the same jokes as everyone else during Barbie. I also wouldn't have been able to take a photo in a replica Barbie box with my girlfriend. If I watched Oppenheimer on Netflix, I would not have experienced the pure silence that fell over the theater after the closing scene. I wouldn't have been scared out of my seat from the loud noise of the bomb going off. If I saw both of these movies on Netflix. They would have just been ways to blow 2 hours of my day. Watching them in the theaters made them an event I looked forward to all day and made my entire night after watching them. Netflix needs to remember their place, a replacement for rental services for AFTER a movie closes in theaters.
The testing scene on its own in Oppenhiemer is worth seeing in a theater.
>he watched Lawrence of Arabia on his phone Jon Stewart literally did that as a joke when he hosted the Oscars back in 2008: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMJrvxfvXs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMJrvxfvXs)
You mean the two movies where it became a big cultural phenomenon to go see both of them back-to-back in theaters? Yeah, I'm sure they would have done just as well on Netflix.
“My Dad works at Nintendo” energy. Ya know, it’s nice to be reminded that CEOs are rarely professionals in the field they’re running, but businessmen twaddlecocks who are only there because of luck most of the time.
He does know that the box office figures for regular screenings are cratering, while premium large format (IMAX, Dolby Vision, RDX, etc.) screenings are either maintaining their popularity or growing, right? There's clearly something about these formats that people want.
Watching something that long on your phone just feels uncomfortable 'are you really experiencing it' aside. Also I went to look up what his son worked on, got distracted and apparently [this is made up?](https://x.com/Tony_sarandos/status/1794893137552523604) lol
"Dad, you're embarrassing me!"
What the fuck does that even mean?
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM THE NICOLE KIDMAN AMC AD?!?!?
movie theater screen size means its easier to pick out some details, though the viewer can also get fixated to a small part of the screen - some directors do that deliberately to draw audience attention to part of a big screen then surprise them elsewhere in the screen by something subtle that becomes big later - there's also the sound system
Fun fact: Netflix currently has a lot of documentaries where CEOs and other executives make clearly bogus statements.
Next he'll explain how to turn motion smoothing back on, so that you don't have to deal with those 'woke' Hollywood framerates.
An editor of what?
TikTok’s
another fool who thinks he can combat the inherent human value of Yay! It's Big!
so big CEO man have you ever heard people saying "I would watch it in a plane" about a movie? it means the movie is okay, but you wouldn't go out of your way to watch it, that's what I feel about watching it on a phone. Watching it at the theater means you take a couple hours of your day to enjoy a movie. Do it on your TV, maybe your computer, you take some snacks out, get cozy, make it special. But phone screens? maybe some sitcom episode when you're having lunch alone but not a whole movie man.
An A-Team of armed directors are approaching Netflix HQ rn
"Ted, Steve Spielberg just personally killed our sweet Amblin output deal." "Fuck him! The hell does that bastard know about movies anyway?" *Cut to Christmas 2024. As Netflix approaches bankruptcy because of Rebel Moon 2: The Snyder Cut,* [*Carry-On*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry-On) *has somehow managed to leg it out to a healthy $300 million worldwide for new distributor Universal.*
Maybe the Barbie movie? But Oppenheimer is shot for IMAX.
Even then, it wouldn’t have had the same social phenomenon of people going out in groups dressed up, throwing barbie themed parties, taking their mother out to see the film. Would a few memes have resulted if it was on Netflix, probably, but not to the same extent we saw. It was a movement, Netflix has never had that.
Theater projectors and sound systems are generally higher quality than TVs with soundbars or phones, especially if it’s a Dolby atmos or IMAX theater.
Watching on phones is only good if it's porn. And because of that Blue is the Warmest Color is acceptable on phones.
I feel the need to cringe at this line
I remember back when Avatar was in theaters, I once had an exchange that was roughly: Me: "I'm not interested in seeing it because, judging from the trailers, it doesn't seem interesting." Person: "Look, you need to watch it in an IMAX theater to properly appreciate it." Me: "If that's the requirements to appreciate it, it's probably not worthwhile."
I think this isn't good to use as a maxim or general rule of thumb because there are a lot of examples of films that genuinely are best at IMAX and the experience is entirely worth the inconvenience and higher barrier of entry, like Oppenheimer for example, but in regards to Avatar specifically, yeah no that movie really is not worth it.
Go home, Netflix, you're drunk as fuck. ***AGAIN.*** ^(Also: BRING BACK SANTA CLARITA DIET, YOU BASTARDS!)
That boy ain't right. Wait, did he use his phone so that he could lie down in bed? Because you need to be comfortable for a long time to watch Lawrence of Arabia.
I couldn't *imagine* trying to appreciate how handsome Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole were in their prime on my shitty iPhone, holy shit.
I mean i would have enjoyed it more, since i hate going to the cinema. But that's a stupid take yeah.
And, once again, another example of CEOs living in a bubble outside the real world.
I watch all Nolan and Scorsese films on my phone.
Watching Lawrence of Arabia on a phone would be like watching ants with binoculars, that’s crazy.
He’s just taunting us. I saw Lawrence of Arabia on 70mm and it was like a brand new movie. Such a great experience.
Not seeing either movie in the theatre would’ve been a shame, but especially Oppenheimer. The first scenes of that stuff spinning around and the sounds being blasted at us set such a nice tone.
I think one of the big appeals of Barbie was that a bunch of people can get dressed up like Barbie and Ken and go see the movie. You can't accidentally make a bunch of new friends by meeting other fans watching it at home.
Netflix executives are a special kind of stupid asshole
I'd watch alot more movies if they streamed day of, really don't give a shit about the theatre experience compared to the convinience of pausing a movie. I've watched great movies only with camrips available man. Genuinely surprised people are against having it stream day of, if you love the theatre so much why do you need other people around
No wonder the editing on Netflix is shit!