Road House director explains why he reversed Amazon boycott: ‘I very publicly lost’

Doug Liman announced he would boycott his own film’s SXSW screening but later went back on his decision

Road House director Doug Liman has explained why he went back on his decision to boycott his own film in protest of studio Amazon Prime Video, saying: “Sometimes you just have to acknowledge that you lost.”

The Swingers and Bourne Identity filmmaker, 58, announced in January that he would boycott the film’s premiere at SXSW over Amazon’s decision to give it a streaming-only release.

The film, which is a remake of the original 1989 film that starred Patrick Swayze, follows an ex-UFC middleweight fighter played by Brokeback Mountain actorJake Gyllenhaal who ends up working at a rowdy bar in the Florida Keys.

Liman wrote an open letter announcing his intention to boycott, but earlier this month changed his mind and attended the screening in Texas where he received a standing ovation.

Speaking to YouTuber Casey Neistat before the premiere, Liman argued passionately that he felt the film should have been given a theatrical release.

“We made Road House for the big screen,” he said. “We shot it with IMAX cameras. Big stars in it, like Conor McGregor, and it’s a party, right? There are some movies that you watch alone, and there are some movies that are a party. Road House is a party. It’s great music, and great bar fights. There’s obviously a lot more to it but at the heart of it, it’s a party.”

Doug Liman at Tribeca Festival in 2021 (Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

After referring to a Bloomberg headline which reads: “Amazon plans to invest $1 billion a year in movies for theaters”, Liman continues: “It turns out, Amazon never had any intention of putting it in theaters.

“They wanted to put it on their streaming service and sell toilet paper and tooth brushes. By the way, I’m not the only filmmaker that Amazon is doing this to. There’s a string of filmmakers who were promised a theatrical release and then their films were dumped on streaming.

“They’re definitely giving me the shaft. They’re giving the public the shaft, that’s the thing.”

In footage shot on the way to the premiere, Liman explained why he changed his mind and decided to attend.

“You know, it’s tough to do but sometimes you just have to acknowledge that you lost,” he said. “You took on Amazon, you fought for your movie... I literally did everything in my power to try to get this movie into theaters, and I lost!

“So onto the next. If this is going to be literally the only screening where people can buy tickets and go see the movie, I want to be there.”

He added: “I hate losing, and I have very publicly lost here.”

In a two-star review of Road House,The Independent’s chief film critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote that the film is “a little dull; the most pointless sort of remake, it takes a cult classic and strips it for parts, reformulating them into just another broad, interchangeable action film”.