Sir Sam Mendes has revealed his fears that the ‘great era’ of the cinema is dying.
The Empire of Light director said he is disappointed that films are now going straight to streaming services rather than to the big screen.
He also voiced his worries that soon the cinema experience will not be available to people.
Sir Sam’s new film is a romantic drama revolving around the staff at the Empire Cinema in Margate, Kent, in 1980, starring Olivia Colman, Top Boy star Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones.
‘The 20th century, the great era of movies, the great entertainment form – which was going out to the movies – that is dying,’ the Oscar-winning writer-director lamented.
The acclaimed filmmaker, who also said he felt gender neutral awards categories are ‘inevitable’, also revealed he believes that some of his most successful movies would have been released on streaming services if they had been made now.
The 57-year-old said on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I look back at my films and I think American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, these would all go to streaming now and that makes me sad.
‘I think those middle-budget movies don’t get made for cinemas anymore and you look at the multiplexes and people go, “There’s six screens” and then you go to those six screens and it says, “Screen one Avatar, screen two Avatar, screen three Avatar” – that’s not a six-screen cinema; that’s just six screens showing the same movie.’
He called it a ‘different understanding of why those buildings were created in the first place’.
‘What it means is filmmakers have to make things that need to be seen on the big screen,’ he added.
Sir Sam’s last two films were action-packed epics, with his very personal take on a First World War film with 1917 in 2019, and his final Bond film, Spectre, in 2015.
The acclaimed filmmaker recently explained how he always feels a sense of ‘reassurance’ whenever he visits a cinema.
He told Empire magazine: ‘The cinema is the place you go when you’re lost, or when you feel the need for reassurance or some sense of home.
‘Those places were created, not just to watch movies, but to let you explore a side of your physique and your entire emotional landscape that would otherwise be ignored.’
Empire of Light is out in cinemas now.
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