With theatrical still returning from the doldrums of Covid, several across the industry have racked their heads about the chasm of product on the big screen, and whether cinemas are strictly destinations for tentpoles, and nothing else.
All of this is occurring as streaming has swallowed up specialty auteurish movies, increasingly becoming the prime platform for such fare. Is the cultural resonance of cinema doomed?
We put these questions to James Gray about theatrical’s pickle in the wake of the Cannes premiere of his autobiographical film, Armageddon Time from Focus Features (which notched a 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes).
“I think the theatrical is essential,” he tells Deadline, “If you look at the streaming movies that do the best they are the movies that come out in theaters first. That should tell you something.”
Indeed, recently Samba TV showed that the theatrical day-and-date debut of Universal/Blumhouse’s Firestarter on streamer Peacock last weekend only drew 409K viewers versus the 1.5M weekend drop of Lost City on Paramount+, a movie which had a long theatrical window.
But it’s more than distribution strategies for Gray, a filmmaker known for taking wide, audacious swings in his canon from period dramas like Immigrant to the sci-fi spectacle rumination Ad Astra. That latter Brad Pitt movie cost $100M, and only made $127.5M WW (and opened to $19M). At that time of its pre-pandemic release in September 2019, the movie was considered a misfire at the box office. However, by today’s pandemic standards, it would be amazing if a feature such as that could emulate such business. But according to Gray, if you’re not investing in art, and only appeasing studio bean counters, the cultural significance of cinema remains in peril.
“I think the movie business made a critical mistake, and really it wasn’t a recent mistake, but a big mistake” he explains, “To think of it as ‘This film did not make a ton of money, thus we don’t make that film. This film will make a ton of money, thus we make that one.’ A very strict balance sheet equation. Why is that mistake? That’s a no brainer. Any first level MBA guy or woman should know that.”
“Here’s what happened: When you make movies that only make a ton of money and only one kind of movie, you begin to get a large segment of the population out of the habit of going to the movies.”
“And then you begin to eliminate the importance of movies culturally,” he continues, “When you are so quarterly earnings bottom-line minded; you lose the big brain vision.”
Gray clarifies, “I have no problem with a comic book movie. I have seen excellent ones made. I think Tim Burton’s second Batman movie is a beautiful movie and Michelle Pfeiffer is brilliant in it. I think what Chris Nolan does and my friend Matt Reeves certainly did with the deep dive of his Batman film; I know there are things that can be done in the genre.”
“It’s not an argument saying that all comic movies are terrible; of course they should be made,” says the Ad Astra filmmaker.
“The slate though, the fact that it’s no longer broad based for theatrical by the studios, means they have forced a smaller, and smaller and smaller segment of the population to like it.”
Gray then launches into a Marlon Brandon impersonation from The Godfather, quoting “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
He then says “and you know instantly what that movie is! You cannot quote me a single line from Aquaman.”
“What does that mean? It means the cultural — and the Academy Awards, they know it. Why is the viewership going down?”
“It’s going down because we didn’t make the investment in the broad-based engagement with the product,” explains Gray.
“Maybe Ang Lee’s Ice Storm didn’t make a billion dollars, but it maintained broad-based interest.”
“So, we’ve got to force it back,” he concludes, “The studios should be willing to lose money for a couple of years on art film divisions, and in the end they will be happier.”
Focus Features hasn’t set a theatrical release for Armageddon Time yet, however, it wouldn’t come as a shock if the movie debuts in the Q4 awards season corridor.
Aero is the official sponsor of the Deadline Studio at Cannes Film Festival, sponsors are Soia & Kyoand Jamones Iberico from Spain: Ambassadors of Europe in the World