Steven Spielberg wants to block streaming giants from Oscars, Netflix responds

For the unadulterated, director of some of the biggest movies like Jaws, E.T, Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg has been instigating a change in the Oscars for streaming giants. In his comment, the director insinuates to block Netflix as a future contender during the Oscars. This controversial remark has not sat well with the film community and the streaming giants of course. In an ‘indirect’ reply, Netflix has responded to Spielberg’s comment. Taking it to Twitter, the streaming giant tweeted,

‘’ We love cinema. Here are some things we also love:

-Access for people who can't always afford, or live in towns without, theaters
-Letting everyone, everywhere enjoy releases at the same time
-Giving filmmakers more ways to share art

These things are not mutually exclusive’’

Spielberg’s comments originated in an acceptance speech at the Cinema Audio Society’s awards ceremony, where he received the film-maker ward, accepting his speech the director said, “I hope all of us really continue to believe that the greatest contributions we can make as film-makers is to give audiences the motion picture theatrical experience. I’m a firm believer that movie theatres need to be around for ever … There’s nothing like going to a big, dark theatre with people you’ve never met before and having the experience wash over you. That’s something we all truly believe in.”

In his role as a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), Spielberg is also reported to be backing a proposal that Oscar eligibility rules for films distributed by streaming services should change. 

Indiewire quoted a representative of his production company Amblin as saying: “Steven feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation … He’ll be happy if the others will join when that comes up . He will see what happens.”