We must adjust to seeing films on phones, says Netflix chief
THE film industry must get to grips with new technology, the head of Netflix has insisted, as he said the experience of going to the cinema has been “deeply compromised”.
Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of the online streaming service, said Netflix posed no threat to traditional cinema-going, despite a rumbling row over the inclusion of its films at the Cannes Film Festival.
The broadcaster has been the focus of filmmaker fury during Cannes, for failing to follow a convention whereby films are released in French cinemas long before they are available digitally.
The row has prompted the festival to change its rules for next year, with Pedro Almodóvar, the president of the jury, further raising eyebrows with a candid claim that he “could not conceive” of a Netflix film winning the Palme d’Or.
In an interview with the Telegraph reviewer Robbie Collin, Sarandos said: “You are inviting films that you believe to be best in class from all around the world.
“And if you are inventing qualifications for how a film has to appear on a commercial basis, that seems very out of step with the spirit of the festival, and the independence of the festival.”
He went on: “We are living among a generation who have seen every great movie ever made on a phone.
“So I think we all just have to come to grips with where technology and culture take us.
“And by the way, I’m more thrilled that they are seeing the movies than I am concerned with the size of the screen they’re watching them on.”
Saying he personally visits the cinema at least weekly, Sarandos, who lives in LA, added: “But right now, do I enjoy it today. as much as I did five years ago? n No. Because I think the experience has been deeply compromised: the start times, with the trailers and adverts, people texting and talking in the theatre, people bringing comfort dogs to the theatre.”