Steven Spielberg signs with Netflix for several films
Netflix has succeeded in attracting a big name in cinema signing with Steven Spielberg. The filmmaker, through his production company Amblin Partners, will produce several films per year for the streaming service.
Steven Spielberg and Netflix sign deal
Details are fairly light immediately regarding the deal between Netflix and Steven Spielberg with Amblin Partners. Will the films be streaming only? Or will they also have the right to a theatrical release? Will these be big movies every time or can we expect more confidential feature films? There are no details at this time.
Amblin Partners has produced several films in recent years, including 1917, Green Book: On the roads of the south and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The first two have notably received Oscars. 1917 won Oscars for Best Photography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. As for Green Book: On the roads of the south, it was also three Oscars, including that of the best film.
Not very ready for streaming at the start
The agreement between Amblin Partners and Netflix marks a turning point for Steven Spielberg, who has long been quite critical of streaming, particularly worried about the threat it posed to theatrical cinema. During the promotional tour for his film Ready Player One in 2018, the american director openly criticized the way in which streaming platforms contented themselves with showing certain films for only one week, in a very limited number of theaters, only to allow them to meet the eligibility criteria for Oscars. These feature films should not have been eligible for Oscar nomination, he told UK channel ITV.
“Once you commit to a television format, you are a TV movie”, added the director twice awarded the Oscar for best director. In April 2019, he rectified the situation in an interview with the New York Times, claiming never to have had any opposition to the platforms. Since then, Steven Spielberg has directed for Apple TV + episodes of the series Fantastic stories, uploaded last year.
