The topic arose as Belloni asked Cameron about reports of Netflix and Paramount’s recent bids to buy Warner Bros. Cameron gave his recommendation to Paramount because “Netflix would be a disaster. Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez. Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’” When Belloni told Cameron that Sarandos was “promising theaters if he buys Warner Bros.,” Cameron replied: “It’s sucker bait. ‘We’ll put the movie out for a week or 10 days. We’ll qualify for Oscar consideration.’ See, I think that’s fundamentally rotten to the core. A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical, and the Academy Awards mean nothing to me if they don’t mean theatrical. I think they’ve been co-opted, and I think it’s horrific.”
Cameron is obviously not a fan of Netflix’s minimal theatrical releases for its latest host of Oscar contenders, like Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, and House Of Dynamite, which were given two-week limited runs in a handful of theaters. He’s not the first to criticize this strategy either, since the streamer only instituted it so its movies would be eligible for awards, and, well, stars and filmmakers want their films in theaters. In 2019, Steven Spielberg lobbed the same criticism at Netflix. “Once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie,” Spielberg said. “You certainly, if it’s a good show, deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar. I don’t believe films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theaters for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination.”
Cameron offers Netflix a path forward on the Oscar nominations, though: “They should be allowed to compete if they put the movie out for a meaningful release in 2,000 theaters for a month.”
