The ongoing feud between Netflix and North America’s biggest theater chains is now continuing into the new decade. AMC and Regal have long had issues with Netflix because of the streamer’s release strategy, only allowing its most prestigious films a few weeks in theaters before making them available to stream online. Other films released theatrically have a much longer window before they are available digitally and these major theater chains want Netflix to follow the same rules. Since Netflix’s whole business model is streaming, that lengthy theatrical window doesn’t really fly, and the theater chains are punishing the service for it.
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For the second year in a row, both AMC and Regal are refusing to show the Netflix Oscar nominees in theaters. At the beginning of every year, the big theater chains bring movies that were nominated for Academy Awards (mainly Best Picture) back to the big screen as part of an Oscar showcase. According to The Los Angeles Times, both Regal and AMC have confirmed that they won’t be showing any Netflix films in their showcases.
This is always a bad look for the theaters, but it’s especially egregious after this year’s Oscar nominations. Netflix led all studios on Monday morning with a total of 24 nominations, more than even the behemoth known as Disney. The streaming service had plenty of films spread across those 24 nominations, two of them landing in the Best Picture category. Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story each earned a nod for the most prestigious award the Academy can offer, yet they won’t be shown in large theaters with the rest of the nominees.
The Irishman received 10 total nominations this year, which was tied for second-most amongst all films, and just one less than the most-nominated movie of the year, Joker. Scorsese’s sprawling crime epic isn’t just a nominee for Best Picture, it’s one of the frontrunners for the award, making its exclusion from AMC and Regal showcases even more frustrating.
At this point, there’s no telling when, or if, the major theater chains will ever change their minds about allowing Netflix films to screen during the Oscar marathons.
