'Wonder Woman' director Patty Jenkins says films released on streaming services 'look like fake movies'
- At CinemaCon, Patty Jenkins shared her thoughts about the way movies are now released.
- She said films released on streaming services "look like fake movies to me."
- Her movie, "Wonder Woman 1984," was released in theaters and on HBO Max last December.
Patty Jenkins has made it very clear she is not making movies to be seen on streaming services.
"I'm not a fan of day-and-date and I hope to avoid it forever," the "Wonder Woman" franchise director said at CinemaCon, the annual movie-theater convention that took place in August, during a panel discussion about the state of the business. "The truth is I make movies for the big screen. I'm OK with people watching it for a second or third time on their phone, but I'm not making it for that experience."
"And by the way, aren't you seeing it?" Jenkins continued. "All of the films that streaming services are putting out, I'm sorry, they look like fake movies to me. I don't hear about them, I don't read about them. It's not working as a model for establishing legendary greatness."
Jenkins, whose "Wonder Woman 1984" opened in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously last December during the pandemic, is not the first director to speak out against studios paring back exclusive theatrical releases during the pandemic (or in some cases, not giving a film the option to go to theaters at all, like Pixar's "Soul" and "Luca").
"Tenet" director Christopher Nolan called HBO Max the "worst streaming service" in December 2020 when WarnerMedia announced that all Warner Bros. 2021 released movies would open simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.
Jenkins, who is currently developing the upcoming standalone "Star Wars" movie "Rogue Squadron," noted during the panel that she feels streaming is best used for TV projects, noting she has a deal at Netflix to make limited and regular series projects there.
"As a filmmaker, there are stories I want to tell, like 'I Am the Night' [for TNT], that are longer and don't fit into the movie format," she said. "Streaming is great for massive amounts of content and bingeing TV shows."
Despite "Wonder Woman 1984" getting the simultaneous streaming and theaters treatment, it still grossed over $166 million at the worldwide box office, one of the best performances during the early days of the pandemic. Still, that's a far cry from 2017's "Wonder Woman," which took in over $822 million worldwide.
Insider reached out to a representative for Jenkins, who's getting a lot of blowback on social media for her streaming opinion, but didn't immediately hear back for comment.