In the lead-up to the release of 2024’s “Road House,” Doug Liman said he would boycott the premiere of the movie he directed at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Liman penned a column for Deadline where he explained his reasons, writing that he originally signed up with MGM to make a theatrical movie. When MGM was bought by Amazon Studios, Liman claimed that the executives told him to focus on making a good movie and that they would determine how to distribute it, since they had committed to putting big movies in theaters.
“We made ‘Road House’ a ‘smash hit’ — Amazon’s words not mine,” Liman wrote. “‘Road House’ tested higher than my biggest box office hit, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ It tested higher than ‘Bourne Identity,’ which spawned four sequels.” Amazon, though, has stuck to its streaming-only plan. Liman expressed his disappointment at the studio for not considering a theatrical release, explaining how he tried to convince them otherwise for the benefit of the industry. “If we don’t put tentpole movies in movie theaters, there won’t be movie theaters in the future,” he wrote.
Sources also said that Liman and others were given an option to make the movie for $60 million, which would make it eligible for theatrical release, or $85 million for a straight-to-streaming deal. Reportedly, the filmmakers took the $85 million option.
