Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino isn’t afraid to express his opinions, and he wasn’t afraid to discuss his take on the film industry as a whole during his appearance at Sundance this year.
During a Q&A with esteemed film academic Elvis Mitchell, Tarantino was asked why he’s remained focused on writing over the past few years. Tarantino’s last film was 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” nearly six years ago.
The film industry has changed dramatically since then. The pandemic accelerated the shift to streaming, major media consolidation, the collapse of the 90-day theatrical window, and overall trepidation regarding risks in filmmaking.
Of all the issues, the shortening of those exclusive theatrical windows is what has really been the final straw for the “Pulp Fiction” filmmaker:
“That’s a challenge, a genuine challenge, but making movies? Well, what the f— is a movie now? What – something that plays in theaters for a token release for four fucking weeks? All right, and by the second week you can watch it on television. I didn’t get into all this for diminishing returns.
I mean, it was bad enough in ’97. It was bad enough in 2019, and that was the last f—ing year of movies. That was a s— deal, as far as I was concerned, the fact that it’s gotten drastically worse?
And that it’s just it’s a show pony exercise. Now the theatrical release, you know, and then like yeah, in two weeks, you can watch it on this [streamer] and that one. Okay. Theater? You can’t do that. It’s the final frontier.”
With Tarantino only expected to direct one more film before he retires from directing, it’s likely whatever studio he sets it up with will have to have a Chris Nolan-style deal of a guaranteed extended theatrical window.
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