It all begs the question of how successfully
Netflix could continue to upend cinema
- especially given that The Irishman, with
Hollywood big-hitters Robert De Niro and Al
Pacino in the starring roles, is no little-known
obscurity. This fall alone, Netflix lined up nine
other movies for the same theatrical-then-
streaming release path, including Steven
Soderbergh’s The Laundromat and Noah
Baumbach’s Marriage Story. By contrast, just
four Netflix films made it to theaters in the
whole of 2018.
MORE AND MORE POTENTIAL
COMPETITORS IN THE OSCAR RACE
Netflix is stepping up its game and even
chasing Oscars, eligibility for which requires
films to be shown for at least seven days in a
Los Angeles County theater. This has been a
bone of contention for traditionalists like Steven
Spielberg; the legendary director opined
to ITV News back in March 2018 that “once
you commit to a television format, you’re a TV
movie”, adding that such films should be eligible
for Emmys but not Academy Awards, of which
Spielberg himself has won three.
Fortunately for Netflix, though, the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not
appear to concur; earlier this year, the awards
body ruled out tightening Oscar eligibility rules
to make it tougher for streaming films to pick up
awards. That news also likely came as a relief to
Apple, given a report from the New York Post
in June that Apple intended to spend $5 million
to $30 million each on “six small-budget movies
a year with an eye towards stories that could win
Academy Awards”.