Steven Spielberg Doubling Down on His Campaign to Ban Netflix at the Oscars

The famous director equates Academy Award-winning films like "Roma" to mere "TV movies."

Steven Spielberg at the 2011 Oscars. (Photo credit: Flickr, David Torcivia)
Steven Spielberg at the 2011 Oscars. (Photo credit: Flickr, David Torcivia)
David Torcivia

While much of Hollywood has hailed the success of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime entering into the business of filmmaking, iconic director Steven Spielberg is filing his own Minority Report in protest. And despite—or perhaps because of—the success of Netflix movies like Roma, which won Oscars for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film last week, Spielberg shows no signs of backing down.

According to New York, Spielberg now plans to take his case to the next meeting of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (Spielberg is a directing branch board member.) In the past, Spielberg has criticized the formatting of made-for-TV-streaming movie when compared to filmed specifically for theater distribution as well as the token, limited theater runs that streaming movies undertake to qualify for the Academy Awards.

“Once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie. You certainly, if it’s a good show, deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar,” he said in an ITV interview last year. “I don’t believe films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theaters for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination.”

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