Quentin Tarantino Thinks Streaming Films Don’t Impact The Zeitgeist

In a recent interview with Deadline, Quentin Tarantino shared his opinion on films created for distribution on streaming platforms and dismissed them as largely forgettable. The director expressed that a theatrical experience enables a movie to impact the cultural consciousness in a way that streaming platforms simply do not allow for. Tarantino framed his thoughts in the context of inquiries about ending his feature film career with his upcoming project, The Movie Critic. You can read a few highlights from the interview below.

On why he’s planning to make his next project his last one: “It’s just time. It’s just time to go out. I like the idea of going out on top. I like the idea of giving it my all for 30 years and then saying, ‘OK, that’s enough.’ And I don’t like working to diminishing returns. And I mean, now is a good time because I mean, what even is a motion picture anyway anymore? Is it just something that they show on Apple? That would be diminishing returns.”

On his philosophy that films are meant to be seen in theaters: “Well, I’ve always thought that. And they eventually get to television. I saw a lot of them that way. I’m probably going to be doing the movie with Sony because they’re the last game in town that is just absolutely, utterly, committed to the theatrical experience. It’s not about feeding their streaming network. They are committed to theatrical experience. They judge success by asses on seats. And they judge success by the movies entering the zeitgeist, not just making a big expensive movie and then putting it on your streaming platform. No one even knows it’s there.”

On the dynamics of releasing films on streaming platforms: “I mean, and I’m not picking on anybody, but apparently for Netflix, Ryan Reynolds has made $50 million on this movie and $50 million on that movie and $50 million on the next movie for them. I don’t know what any of those movies are. I’ve never seen them. Have you? I haven’t ever talked to Ryan Reynolds’ agent, but his agent is like, ‘Well, it cost $50 million.’ Well, good for him that he’s making so much money. But those movies don’t exist in the zeitgeist. It’s almost like they don’t even exist.”