Road House director Doug Liman is boycotting the SXSW premiere of his movie in protest at Amazon MGM refusing to give it a theatrical release.
Liman wrote a guest column for Deadline, explaining why he will not be attending the premiere of Road House, his remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze feature, despite considering it one of the best films of his career, with the overarching reason being Amazon's decision to bypass a theatrical release and send it straight to streaming.
"When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won't be attending," Liman announced. "The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I'm sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there."
The director said his original plan was to "silently protest Amazon's decision to stream a movie so clearly made for the big screen," but that Amazon is "hurting way more than just me and my film," so he felt it was his duty to speak up about the decision in a bid to highlight the importance of releasing movies in theaters.
Liman signed on to direct Road House for MGM in 2021 before the project got the greenlight from Amazon following its purchase of MGM several months prior. Amazon revealed its plans to invest $1 billion into theatrical movies, but Liman says, for him, the studio did the "opposite of what they promised when they took over MGM."
He explained that he upheld his end of the deal by making "a great film" - one that he claims Amazon described as a "smash hit" - with higher test scores than some of his biggest box office movies, including Mr. and Mrs Smith and The Bourne Identity, while also garnering a positive response from the press and social media.
"What else could I have delivered to the studio?" Liman quizzes. "Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon's Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.
"That hurts the filmmakers and stars of Road House who don't share in the upside of a hit movie on a streaming platform," he continued. "And they deprive Jake Gyllenhaal — who gives a career-best performance — the opportunity to be recognized come award season. But the impact goes far beyond this one movie. This could be industry-shaping for decades to come."
Liman used his experience as a cautionary tale for the theatrical film business, voicing his concerns that "if we don't put tentpole movies in movie theaters, there won't be movie theaters in the future." He stressed how easily it could collapse and, in turn, cause a ripple effect for studios, film executives, and the talent.
With these reasons, Liman presented his argument for why Road House should get a theatrical release and even asked Amazon if he could sell the movie to a studio that would put it in theaters, but the studio declined. The refusal to budge means the film will roll out exclusively on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform.
Liman said that he is not opposed to streaming movies, considering he has made them before and continues to make them, but is "opposed to Amazon gutting MGM and its theatrical business, as I would have been had Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and then gutted its newsroom (he did the opposite)."
He concluded: "A computer doesn't know what it is like to share the experience of laughing and cheering and crying with a packed audience in a dark theater – and if Amazon has its way, future audiences won't know either."
Road House will debut on Prime Video on March 21. The new take follows Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Elwood Dalton, a former UFC fighter, who takes a job at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys where he soon discovers things are not as they seem. The film, also stars Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor, and Billy Magnussen.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.
