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Steven Spielberg has changed the way cinema works multiple times, the director’s blockbusters — Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T. — casting huge shadows over the movie business.
The influential filmmaker has never really spoken about streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, companies that are buying up an increasing number of big-name productions.
Speaking to ITV while promoting Ready Player One, Spielberg spoke out about the tendency for Netflix to host films in cinemas for a week just so they qualify for the Oscars.
“I don’t believe that films that are just given token qualifications, in a couple of theatres for less than a week, should qualify for the Academy Award nominations,” he said.
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Spielberg also spoke about how studios are not investing in mid-budget projects such as The Post, the director's previous movie, instead only spending money on sure-fire properties.
“Fewer and fewer filmmakers are going to struggle to raise money, or to compete at Sundance and possibly get one of the speciality labels to release their films theatrically, publicly," he said.
“More of them are going to let the SVOD [Streaming Video On-Demand] businesses finance their films, maybe with the promise of a slight, one-week theatrical window to qualify for awards, as a movie. But, in fact, once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie.
“It’s like television. A good show deserves an Emmy and not an Oscar.”
Other filmmakers to have previously spoken out against Netflix include Christopher Nolan, the director later apologising for making the initial comments.
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