With Ridley Scott’s Napoleon released, it marks another long epic hitting theaters after Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. With a hybrid release split between theaters and Apple TV+, Napoleon has revived a conversation surrounding longer projects. Amid a growing trend of long movies by famous directors, they’re torn between traditional theater expectations and the new binge model found on streaming services.
Streaming & The Irishman
This conversation was one that started in 2019 when Scorsese made headlines for releasing his latest movie The Irishman via Netflix. It marked one of the first times an old-guard Hollywood director collaborated exclusively with a streaming service.
It came at a time when Netflix was dominating the streaming market. In general, streaming and live entertainment through the internet was (and still is) a tide that lifted all boats. Even outside of watching movies, websites online have become popular for watching YouTube videos or playing sit-down games like bingo. The future of entertainment seems to lie squarely online, whether it’s through Netflix, YouTube, or iGaming where people can access Paddy Power real money bingo. Each can be available on-demand, at home, with no other expectations or commitments from the consumer.
This has proven to be a powerful force, one that has interfered with the old Hollywood way of doing business. The best example would be 2023’s writers’ strikes, where streaming residuals were one of its biggest sticking points – as explained by The Hollywood Reporter.
In 2019, Netflix first made a splash by hosting a Scorsese picture. The result? A three-and-a-half-hour mafia epic that has been called the most important and most self-indulgent of Scorsese’s career.
Theaters & Killers of the Flower Moon
Scorsese did it again in 2023, this time with Killers of the Flower Moon. With a runtime just three minutes less than The Irishman, similar conversations about self-indulgence and lack of brave editors controlling Marty began to swirl. However, Killers of the Flower Moon was released in theaters, without an intermission. When quizzed about the movie’s length, Scorsese referenced streaming’s binge model by saying: “People say it’s three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours.”
Theaters weren’t so confident, to the point that they put their own intermissions in. This led Paramount and its partnered distributors to take dramatic action, as reported by Variety. Many theatergoers appreciated the break while others, including many creatives, argued it wasn’t in Scorsese or Paramount’s vision of how the film should be watched.
However, like Napoleon, Scorsese’s latest epic will hit Apple TV+ after its box office splash. There, watchers can have as many intermissions as they want. This is what started the recent debate – do longer movies belong on streaming more than theaters?
Napoleon’s Four-Hour Cut
Not a month after Killers of the Flower Moon sparked this debate, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon hit theaters. Telling the story of one of history’s greatest generals demands some screentime, though the initial release came in at a more reasonable two-and-a-half hours. However, Scott lamented that he had to trim this project for its theatrical release. As part of its hybrid release plan, the full four-hour director’s cut will debut on Apple TV+ in the future.
What we’re seeing is a clear strategy by Apple – grab big-name directors, offer them the freedom to satisfy their vision, and then release them in theatres for a big opening/marketing boost. After that, they’ll settle comfortably with Apple TV+ where users can watch like they’d binge-watch a new show. As Scorsese said, people will sit at TV and watch for five hours when surrounded by creature comforts. Through these recent releases, Apple is trying to get the best of both worlds by marrying long, inflexible epics to on-demand streaming. Only time can tell if this gambit pays off.
