“Road House” director Doug Liman is still frustrated over the streaming release of his Jake Gyllenhaal-led action movie, telling IndieWire while promoting his new Apple movie “The Instigators” that his anger stems from not being properly compensated for a streaming release. “Road House” was initially conceived as a theatrical release for MGM. Plans changed when MGM was purchased by Amazon.
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“First of all, I have no issue with streaming,” Liman said. “We need streaming movies cause, we need writers to go to work and directors to go to work and actors to go to work and not every movie should be in a movie theater. So I’m a big advocate of TV series, of streaming movies, of theatrical movies, we should have it all.
“My issue on ‘Road House’ is that we made the movie for MGM to be in theaters, everyone was paid as if it was going to be in theaters. Then Amazon switched it on us and nobody got compensated,” he added. “Forget about the effect on the industry — 50 million people saw ‘Road House’ — I didn’t get a cent, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t get a cent, [producer] Joel Silver didn’t get a cent. That’s wrong.”
Amazon reported at the start of April that “Road House” attracted 50 million viewers worldwide over its first two weekends of availability on Prime Video. Those numbers made it the studio’s “most-watched produced film debut ever on a worldwide basis,” Amazon added at the time. However, Liman claims he never saw a cent of backend pay from the film’s blockbuster streaming numbers.
Variety reached out to Amazon for comment but did not hear back.
Liman originally planned to boycott the world premiere of “Road House” at SXSW due to the film’s streaming release. Variety reported at the time that “Road House” was always intended for a global streaming release. Sources familiar with the negotiations said that Liman, Gyllenhaal and producer Joel Silver were given a choice: Make the film for $60 million and get a theatrical release or take $85 million and go streaming only. They opted for the latter, and it’s unclear what the terms of the deal was in terms of backpay. Gyllenhaal later confirmed the report in an interview with Total Film magazine .
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“I adore Doug’s tenacity, and I think he is advocating for filmmakers, and film in the cinema, and theatrical releases. But, I mean, Amazon was always clear that it was streaming,” Gyllenhaal said at the time. “I just want as many people to see it as possible. And I think we’re living in a world that’s changing in how we see and watch movies, and how they’re made. What’s clear to me, and what I loved so much, was [Liman’s] deep love for this movie, and his pride at how much he cares for it, how good he feels it is, and how much people should see it.”
Liman’s issue now is with the lack of compensation based on the film’s giant streaming numbers. He told IndieWire that his experience making “The Instigators” for Apple was far different.
“In the case of Apple, right from the beginning, we said we’re making this for streaming, our contracts compensated streaming, we’re all compensated for it being on streaming — there’s something called a streaming buyout — so Apple has been above-board from the beginning,” he explained.
Amazon announced in May that a sequel to “Road House” is officially in development with Gyllenhaal set to reprise his lead role. Liman’s involvement is not known at this time. The studio added that “Road House” had attracted 80 million global viewers on Prime Video by the middle of May after launching March 21.
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