Entertainment

James Cameron brands Netflix and cinema joint releases ‘a stupid idea’

The director thinks films should only launch on the big screen.
The director thinks films should only launch on the big screen. The director thinks films should only launch on the big screen.

Director James Cameron has slammed the trend for simultaneously releasing films on Netflix and in cinemas, saying the “sanctity of theatregoing” should be preserved.

The Avatar boss will release the fantasy adventure’s sequel in December 2020, but is hoping that films opening in cinemas will not have become a thing of the past by then.

Dunkirk director Christopher Nolan has also criticised the new release tactic and Cameron said he agreed with him, explaining that he had re-released his 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day because a whole generation would only have seen it on a TV screen.

James Cameron
James Cameron (Ian West/PA Wire/PA Images)
James Cameron thinks releasing films on Netfllix is a bad idea (Ian West/PA)

Cameron told The Telegraph: “I’m not into it – I think it’s a stupid idea.

“The sanctity of the theatre­going experience is something I never want to see go away.

“I actually don’t think it will go away but people shouldn’t be denied the option of seeing a film on a big screen.

“It’s also incumbent on us as filmmakers to make films that need to be seen in the cinema –there is something about leaving your home and dedicating two hours of your life to an experience you can’t control.

“Everything in life today is about control and multi­tasking. When you go to the cinema you give all that up.”

Canadian Cameron added that he was finding it very difficult living in Donald Trump’s America.

US President Donald Trump (Alex Brandon/AP)
US President Donald Trump (Alex Brandon/AP)
Cameron criticised the election of Trump (Alex Brandon/AP)

He said: “If I hadn’t spent the past several years building out the ultimate digital studio at Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles I wouldn’t be in this country right now.

“I’m happy to say that publicly. I’m so disgusted with what’s going on. At what point did the home of the brave generate such fear and anxiety that Americans have to act against their fundamental founding principles?

“It’s just so appalling to me. I also think there’s a free­floating anxiety in general in the world today about the things coming over the horizon.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Nick Potts/PA Wire/PA Images)
Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as the Terminator (Nick Potts/PA)

Cameron also shared that Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger had been unconvinced by the script for the film’s sequel when he first saw it.

He said: “He said to me, ‘Jim – I don’t kill anybody’.

“I said, ‘yeah – it’s the big surprise … they’re never going to see it coming’.

“He responded ‘Jim – I’m the Terminator. I kick the door down, I shoot everybody, this is what I do’.

“He was really nervous about it.”

The filmmaker spoke about his reputation as a formidable person to work with and about how his career had affected his personal relationships.

James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver
James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver (Yui Mok/PA Archive/PA Images)
James Cameron with Avatar star Sigourney Weaver (Yui Mok/PA)

He said: “It’s a bit of a caricature.

“Out of a planet of several billion people, there are a couple of thousand film directors.

“It’s a certain type of personality. And while the personalities vary wildly, the thing they have in common is the ability to focus.”

Cameron added: “It’s hard on relationships. Suzy (his fifth wife) and I have been together 20 years. She’s been through Avatar with me. She knows what’s coming over the horizon.”