Despite his resolute belief in the cinematic experience, Steven Spielberg has admitted that there is one movie that he now believes he would have considered as a streaming movie: The Post. Although Spielberg has previously been very vocal about streaming movies not being worthy of Oscar nominations, it seems that his stance may have evolved over the last few years, and in his latest interview with the New York Times, he commented on how he would not consider a different approach to the release of The Post. He said:

It is clear that Spielberg’s position on streaming movies has changed over the last few years, and although he is still all about theatrical releases, his attitude toward how streaming movies can also have an essential place in the entertainment industry has changed with the times.

“Speaking very honestly, I made ‘The Post’ [about the Pentagon Papers] as a political statement about our times by reflecting the Nixon administration, and we thought that was an important reflection for a lot of people to understand what was happening to our country. I don’t know if I had been given that script post-pandemic whether I would have preferred to have made that film for Apple or Netflix and gone out to millions of people. Because the film had something to say to millions of people, and we were never going to get those millions of people into enough theaters to make that kind of difference. Things have changed enough to get me to say that to you.”

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Should The Fabelmans Have Been A Streaming Release?

     Amblin Entertainment

While there is little doubt that many moviegoers are still more than happy to see some of Spielberg’s blockbuster movies on the big screen, his own belief that films like The Post would have been more suited to streaming if they had been released a few years later, where does that leave The Fabelmans?

The Fabelmans is gaining the kind of reviews you would expect from a Spielberg drama, but in line with his own thoughts on The Post’s ability to entice massive audiences into theaters, would the heartfelt drama have gained more of a following from people sitting in their own homes rather than having to compete with more thrilling titles such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water? According to Spielberg, though, older audiences who might be more inclined to seek out movies like The Fabelmans are still very much willing to go out to cinemas. He said:

Spielberg’s new semi-biographical drama The Fabelmans goes on limited release this week before going on general release in a couple of weeks.

“I think older audiences were relieved that they didn’t have to step on sticky popcorn, but I really believe those same older audiences, once they got into the theater, the magic of being in a social situation with a bunch of strangers is a tonic…it’s up to the movies to be good enough to get all the audiences to say that to each other when the lights come back up. I found it encouraging that ‘Elvis’ broke $100 million at the domestic box office. A lot of older people went to see that film, and that gave me hope that people were starting to come back to the movies as the pandemic becomes an endemic. I think movies are going to come back. I really do.”