Viggo Mortensen Calls Amazon ‘Appalling’ and ‘Shameful’ for Dumping His 2022 Ron Howard Film on Streaming, Says Film Criticism Is ‘Pretty Poor’ These Days

As a long-time film enthusiast and someone who has had the privilege of working with esteemed directors like Ron Howard, I find Amazon’s decision to scrap the extensive theatrical release for “Thirteen Lives” and opt for a global streaming launch instead, nothing short of disappointing. Viggo Mortensen, who gave an insightful interview to Vanity Fair magazine, shared his firsthand experience of how MGM initially intended to give this well-reviewed Thai cave rescue thriller a full theatrical release after receiving impressive test screening results.

Viggo Mortensen criticized Amazon in an interview with Vanity Fair for changing the release plan of “Thirteen Lives” from a theatrical one to a streaming debut. According to Mortensen, who acted alongside Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton in this highly-acclaimed Thai cave rescue thriller, MGM initially planned a grand theatrical release after positive test screenings that reportedly set new records for the studio.

Mortensen shared that the plan was to release the film in numerous theaters across the world. However, Amazon’s acquisition of MGM led to a breach of contract with Ron Howard. Consequently, the movie was only screened for a week in select cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, London. The streaming platform’s involvement left him feeling disappointed as “The Well-Shot Movie” deserved a wider audience in cinemas.

As a movie lover, I can’t help but feel disappointed when a big production like Amazon makes excuses for prioritizing profits over artistic expression and the communal experience of watching a film in a theater. Instead of respecting their initial commitment to release a movie widely in theaters and letting it have its run, they chose to save on costs by only streaming it. This decision came down to greed, in my opinion. How much more money do they really need? They could have had the best of both worlds – made money through streaming and still given audiences the opportunity to enjoy the film on the big screen. But Amazon seemingly thought it would be more cost-effective for them not to spend money on promotion and theater rentals, and keep all that revenue for themselves. To me, that’s just plain greed.

As a movie critic, I find it deeply disappointing and disrespectful how a filmmaker of Ron Howard’s caliber and accomplishments has been treated. With an impressive resume and significant contributions to the industry, his mistreatment is inexcusable. He may be a nice guy who hasn’t spoken up about it, but I feel compelled to voice my opinion. In my perspective, the actions towards him were shameful.

I’ve noticed with disappointment that the standard of film critiquing nowadays leaves much to be desired. In my opinion, the level of intellectual engagement and insightful analysis we once saw is sadly lacking.

“Regarding a reviewer’s knowledge of filmmaking and cinematic history, it’s quite limited based on my observation. While there are excellent reviewers and captivating discussions among journalists about films, overall I find it underpar. As a director-producer, I closely follow reviews because the success of a movie greatly depends on critical reception – whether it gets distributed widely or shown in theaters. For me as an actor, the significance is less.”

Head over to Vanity Fair’s website to read Mortensen’s latest profile in its entirety.

2024-07-18 00:46

Viggo Mortensen Calls Amazon ‘Appalling’ and ‘Shameful’ for Dumping His 2022 Ron Howard Film on Streaming, Says Film Criticism Is ‘Pretty Poor’ These Days

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