Patty Jenkins Slams Streaming Movies: “They Look Like Fake Movies To Me”

[Vakanai]

She sounds salty. There's been quite a few streaming films that got buzz over the years like Bird Box, The Cloverfield Paradox, Bright, The Old Guard. She's blatantly wrong in that regard.

Cloverfield got buzz over how bad it was, I never heard of Bright or The Old Guard until I got netflix a couple years later, and I honestly thought Bird Box was a series not a film.

She has a point in that if you're not really cued into a certain circle of social media you don't hear or know or care about these movies. They almost kind of exist in this space outside of pop culture awareness. Everyone knows about whenever a MCU or Disney remake or other big blockbuster drops (not counting current crazy covid times). But it's easy to be completely unaware of streaming films. I mean, how many of them get talked about here? They get no commercials, few articles, rare discussion. Regardless of their quality (because some are very good!). They just kind of get chucked out there with little fanfare.

[Immortal Weapon]

Cloverfield got buzz over how bad it was, I never heard of Bright or The Old Guard until I got netflix a couple years later, and I honestly thought Bird Box was a series not a film.

She has a point in that if you're not really cued into a certain circle of social media you don't hear or know or care about these movies. They almost kind of exist in this space outside of pop culture awareness. Everyone knows about whenever a MCU or Disney remake or other big blockbuster drops (not counting current crazy covid times). But it's easy to be completely unaware of streaming films. I mean, how many of them get talked about here? They get no commercials, few articles, rare discussion. Regardless of their quality (because some are very good!). They just kind of get chucked out there with little fanfare.

The films get heavily advertised on the platforms they are on. As a heavy Amazon shopper I'm aware of whatever new movie or show is on prime as it will be all over the site, package boxes, twitch and whatever else they own.

Netflix pays for ads. I often see billboards, subway ads, YouTube and even Time Square ads for their movies and shows. They have a marketing budget to work with. I don't need to be in a social circle to be clued in.

[Jim Kelly]

I'm sorry, to me it looks like Jenkins is stating the obvious and not in a high-handed way. One would have to actually hear her statement and what tone of voice she used, to tell if she was being overly disdainful.

It reads like something I would say.

Most streaming movies I don't hear about them, I don't read about them. I just happen to stumble on them and watch them if they're okay--if I get a bad feeling in the first ten minutes I click off. But this is what you'd expect, because most of these movies don't get the promotional money behind them to drive people to watch them. Theatrical movies have big campaigns and dedicate a large part of their budget to the advance game.

And even if these movies generate some buzz on social media, that quickly fades and it's like they never existed.

She didn't say this, but watching movies on the small screen, they don't look big--they look cheap. And for movies with any C.G.I., what kind of screen you see them on--and how the data is getting to your screen--changes everything. The effects are designed for optimum viewing--if you don't have that, it's going to look hinky.

Watching "The Battle of Winterfell" on my screen, it kept switching off because it wasn't reading any data--I had to keep clicking to get it to play again. In a movie theatre, it would have been much better, because that's the optimum display.

In the long run this all could change. If we get those FARENHEIT 451 parlor wall screens and everything in Bradburyvision, then watching movies at home could be the best way to see them. And then we would be socially driven to consume movies in that way and not go out of our homes.

[Vakanai]

The films get heavily advertised on the platforms they are on. As a heavy Amazon shopper I'm aware of whatever new movie or show is on prime as it will be all over the site, package boxes, twitch and whatever else they own.

Netflix pays for ads. I often see billboards, subway ads, YouTube and even Time Square ads for their movies and shows. They have a marketing budget to work with. I don't need to be in a social circle to be clued in.

I live in a rural town, I see none of these. As for YouTube? I have an ad-blocker on my web browser. Ditto I think for Amazon Prime. Aren't ad-blockers online super common? The only place where I'm subjected to ads is ad-supported streaming services (Roku, Tubi) and traditional over the air (antenna) TV. And they have no advertising presence there. If your entire advertising platform can be avoided by simply not living in a major city and using one ad-blocker, you should rethink how you advertised.

[Vakanai]

In the long run this all could change. If we get those FARENHEIT 451 parlor wall screens and everything in Bradburyvision, then watching movies at home could be the best way to see them. And then we would be socially driven to consume movies in that way and not go out of our homes.

I was about to ask about those wall screens, then read Bradburyvision and realized you were talking science fiction stuff and not actual TV tech being worked on.

[ed2962]

While I do think she's being a little elitist and I do think it's possible for a truly great or "legendary" film to be made by a streaming company in the future ... I don't think she's that far off the mark in regards to what has been produced so far as I don't think any of the examples you gave (or any that I can think of) are what I'd call Great films.

The truth is that studious don't make great films(and at the end of the day that's all the streaming platforms are; other production studios), great directors, writers and actors do and so far those stars haven't aligned just yet...but there's nothing stopping that from happening tomorrow or the next day. Streaming is still in its infancy and its going to take time to attract generational talent to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime and their ilk; it's starting to as we speak with more and more talent putting their films there but so far nothing I'd point at and say, "Now, that's cinema!" (The Irishman came close though).

I mostly agree with the above.

I mean, she's not totally wrong in the sense that a lot of material on streaming services does look cheap or "fake". On the other hand...so? Since the early days of the movie industry there have been cheapy and amateurishly made films. Streaming services didn't suddenly cause some enormous drop in "quality" films. And just because a movie might debut on Hulu or Amazon or whatever, that doesn't mean that it can't be great.

I don't think Jenkins is an elitist, but there's a certain amount of old fogey-ism to her quote.

[j9ac9k]

I've seen print ads for some Netflix movies or series, but I don't feel like they buy a lot of tv ads. Does anyone feel like they see as many tv ads for Netflix movies as theatrical movies? I wonder if they save money by counting on after-release buzz to do the advertising for them? (especially since they can play the long game and not rely on a good opening weekend)

[Immortal Weapon]

I live in a rural town, I see none of these. As for YouTube? I have an ad-blocker on my web browser. Ditto I think for Amazon Prime. Aren't ad-blockers online super common? The only place where I'm subjected to ads is ad-supported streaming services (Roku, Tubi) and traditional over the air (antenna) TV. And they have no advertising presence there. If your entire advertising platform can be avoided by simply not living in a major city and using one ad-blocker, you should rethink how you advertised.

I use ad blockers when I'm on PC. I don't have them when I watch YouTube on TV and it's difficult to get on my phone.

[Vakanai]

I've seen print ads for some Netflix movies or series, but I don't feel like they buy a lot of tv ads. Does anyone feel like they see as many tv ads for Netflix movies as theatrical movies? I wonder if they save money by counting on after-release buzz to do the advertising for them? (especially since they can play the long game and not rely on a good opening weekend)

I honestly can't think of any. I think they don't think they need to advertise on as near as high a level, cause like you said it doesn't matter to them how quickly these movies make money.

[Vakanai]

I use ad blockers when I'm on PC. I don't have them when I watch YouTube on TV and it's difficult to get on my phone.

I've noticed this the few times I have to use the phone to get online - I have no clue how to get an ad-blocker on my phone, it's one of the reasons I stick to my laptop for watching youtube. I guess since most of the world uses their phones as their primary or preferred method to access the internet it works for Netflix. As someone who uses a laptop I'm out of touch with modern pop culture. Woot!

[Gorthon616]

I've seen print ads for some Netflix movies or series, but I don't feel like they buy a lot of tv ads. Does anyone feel like they see as many tv ads for Netflix movies as theatrical movies? I wonder if they save money by counting on after-release buzz to do the advertising for them? (especially since they can play the long game and not rely on a good opening weekend)

I wouldn't be surprised if that was a concerted effort by television companies. I mean, Netflix is COMPETITION. You don't see CBS running ads on Fox (I imagine, I rarely watch TV). So the fact that they don't advertise a competitor makes perfect sense.

[Vakanai]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was a concerted effort by television companies. I mean, Netflix is COMPETITION. You don't see CBS running ads on Fox (I imagine, I rarely watch TV). So the fact that they don't advertise a competitor makes perfect sense.

I don't know - I usually watch METV, PBS, and Comet when I watch TV, but when I had satellite I noticed a lot of commercials for Nickelodeon on DisneyXD and vice versa. I think there's a law where channels can't refuse to advertise other channels' ads?

[WebLurker]

Not really sure I see a huge difference in terms of release model. On the other hand, it does seem like streaming exclusive projects can struggle getting bigger budgets and talent to work on them.

[Gorthon616]

I don't know - I usually watch METV, PBS, and Comet when I watch TV, but when I had satellite I noticed a lot of commercials for Nickelodeon on DisneyXD and vice versa. I think there's a law where channels can't refuse to advertise other channels' ads?

I am not aware of such a law, nor do I know why one would exist. It's certainly not some anti-trust violation to not advertise competitors.

And I'm sure there are some sorts of Ads, like generic Ads for the service. So I'm not suggesting that there are none, just that there would be a business disincentive to run advertisements for the competition.

[Gorthon616]

Not really sure I see a huge difference in terms of release model. On the other hand, it does seem like streaming exclusive projects can struggle getting bigger budgets and talent to work on them.

One thing I've heard (based of the Scarlett Johansson v Disney lawsuit) is that streaming services usually don't provide any sort of backend deals based on success. Which sort of makes sense, because these films are not paid for individually so it would not be as easy and intuitive to determine how much they have benefited from any particular film. So stars are less inclined to take them generally, and if they do they are paid more upfront.

Perhaps this explains why there are so many streaming movies with stars, where they don't seem to particularly care, and are just there for a paycheck, because they lack the normal incentives that motivate them try and make the film successful. Could be a similar case with the rest of the crew, where they know that the value of "success" is muted based on how the project is being monitized.