Despite comments he made in the past, the director’s production company Amblin has signed a multi-picture deal with the streaming giant. Should cinephiles be worried?
Did another citadel just fall? Has another general just presented his sword in surrender? Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin has signed a deal to produce multiple features a year for the streaming behemoth Netflix – which is precisely that small-screen player that Spielberg seemed to be rebuking two years ago when he proclaimed the importance of the theatrical experience and implied digital streaming content should not be eligible for Oscars. (Spielberg has since disputed the way his words were reported and interpreted.)
Well, now Spielberg has joined that other celluloid master, Martin Scorsese, in taking the Netflix dollar. Of course, this is not an exclusive deal: Amblin still has relationships with other studios, including Universal, and its own producing remit, after all, is for both film and television. It is also the case that Spielberg himself, though credited as a producer on them all, may not actually direct any of the films that are earmarked for Netflix. But it is still a mighty name for Netflix to have in the bag, and his prestige and the attendant coverage are still hugely important for the big streaming service, which is hyper-vigilant in its guarding against any slowing of momentum in subscription growth. We are, arguably, another step closer to the theatrical experience being just another aspect of the content rollout – a luxury loss-leader or promotional event, perhaps, while the main action involves consuming movies on laptops, tablets and even phones. Or are we approaching a postmodern cinema, which is a new version of its nickelodeon beginnings: watching flickering images once again on a tiny screen?
