Universal Pictures
Steven Spielberg is riding high atop the global box office thanks to new movie Disclosure Day, and while promoting the sci-fi thriller, has explained why he’ll never make a film for Netflix.
From Jaws and ET to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg has made some of the most acclaimed and beloved blockbusters in film history.
His new movie Disclosure Day just scored 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, while we wrote in our Disclosure Day review that it’s “a sci-fi adventure that doesn’t match the magic of Spielberg’s early alien movies, but does deliver drama, thrills, and much food for thought.”
It debuted with a $93 million haul in cinemas, which is the biggest opening weekend for a an original Spielberg title not based on existing IP. And based on new quotes, we should’t expect him to be bypassing theatrical anytime soon.
Why Steven Spielberg believes in “big motion pictures” over streaming
Paramount PicturesSteven Spielberg directing Indiana Jones.
Spielberg has worked with streamers in the past, and recently executive-produced acclaimed Apple shows Masters of the Air and Cape Fear. But when asked by ITV about the big screen vs watching movies on television, a laptop, or a phone, Spielberg was clear where his loyalties lie.
“They get to be part of how movies were born,” says Spielberg of cinema audiences. “They get to be part of something that happened in the early 20th century, where people got into large halls – often dancehalls, burlesque halls, pubs – and had a crude projector flickering and sending an image to a sheet hanging from the ceiling.
“And yet it was a communal space, and people were there – unfamiliar with each other – a place where strangers congregate, and in disagreement or agreement. They are in agreement on one thing: they have a response all at the same time to the images that they are getting from the screen.
Disclosure Day review: Spielberg reminds us why he’s Hollywood’s greatest storyteller
When to take a bathroom break during Disclosure Day
“So the idea of sending little cassettes, little DVDs, you know, to individuals to watch a movie, if I did that, I would be happy to work for Netflix and make a movie for Netflix, and know that it’s only going to be seen by millions of people on their home screens.
Universal PicturesSpielberg references Jaws while discussing the theatrical experience.
“But I’m a movie maker, and I believe in big motion pictures, 70-millimeter theatrical experiences, with great sound, and tremendous bright projection return, and people in a theater, because I think the energy; to sit in a filled-up theater, you feel the energy of strangers.
“You laugh harder because you’re encouraged to laugh because everybody is laughing. You scream louder when something scary happens, and the whole theater erupts. I know what it was like to see Jaws and make Jaws and preview Jaws, and when Ben Gardner’s head came out of the hole in the boat, I saw popcorn flying and people screaming.
“That you don’t get sitting at home by yourself. You’ll still scream, but it’s not as much fun if you’re alone or with five other people. So I’m always going to make my movies, first and foremost, for the big venues.”
Disclosure Day is still playing in those big venues, while you can head here for advice on when to take a bathroom break during the movie, or here for our Disclosure Day ending explainer.
