A day before the trailer for “Road House” debuted, Liman — a proven hitmaker in Hollywood — highlighted his grievances with Amazon Studios for not giving the film a theatrical release. The film will premiere at 2024’s SXSW film festival in early March but Liman won’t attend the event on principle. He wrote, “The facts: I signed up to make a theatrical motion picture for MGM. Amazon bought MGM. Amazon said make a great film and we will see what happens. I made a great film.”
In his column, Liman discussed how “Road House” was widely praised and labeled as a “smash hit” by execs, highlighting the film’s highly positive test scores. Despite the film’s acclaim though, Amazon isn’t choosing to back the film’s financial viability with a blockbuster rollout — nor allow him to sell to another studio that would financially support (and market) a theatrical release.
“If we don’t put tentpole movies in movie theaters, there won’t be movie theaters in the future,” he noted. “… Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using ‘Road House’ to sell plumbing fixtures.” The director also pointed out how a straight-to-streaming release deprives Gyllenhaal of glory once awards season comes around too.
