Oscar winner George Miller says he would have found it extremely painful to see his films end up on streaming platforms before they are released in cinemas. Miller, who has been in the business for a long time, got his breakthrough with Mad Max in the late 1970s, the film that would kick off the franchise's long-running success. It was also with Mad Max that Mel Gibson broke through and became a household name.
There is no doubt in his mind that the Mad Max films, and Fury Road in particular, are the best in cinema. The latest instalment in the film series, with its spectacular action scenes and visual storytelling, may no longer be so unique, but back then, when it stunned the film world, no one would have preferred to see it at home in their living room than in the cinema. Now the technology has evolved further and the average person has much better equipment at home than back then, but some films are made to be seen in the cinema, he believes. In an era where streaming was already becoming the new normal, a film like Fury Road still got people to go and see it in the cinema and he is adamant that his films should be seen in the cinema in the first place. His new fantasy drama Three Thousand Years of Longing will only be released in cinemas. A premiere on a streaming service would have been particularly painful, he tells Variety.
"It would be very painful to know that your movie will be first seen on streaming. There's a commitment that they can't change. MGM will release it at the end of August in 2,000 cinemas. There's been no deal that MGM has made to stream the movie. At this moment, it will be a theatrical release. Seeing it in that cinema (the Palais), with that sound, that group of people, and knowing every little bit of work that we put into it, will be available to the audiences."
And Miller is not alone in this view. Respectable filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese have all been complaining about the situation. Tarantino even went so far as to call streaming premieres depressing. But these are new times and the pandemic has greatly contributed to many people choosing to watch films at home instead. Many also argue that the next few years will determine the future of cinemas.