Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Matt Damon believes that streaming and superheroes are ruining cinema. Almost 25 years have passed since Good Will Hunting made Damon an international star and throughout that period he’s remained a consistent force among Hollywood’s top-rated actors. Able to play a wide range of characters in various genres, Damon found considerable success as an action star, particularly in the Bourne franchise.
In recent years, however, it’s been clear that the framework for Hollywood cinema has begun to change in ways previously unseen. With the arrival of Iron Man in 2008, the superhero movie genre made its first real claim to box office supremacy, opening the floodgates for what was to become a revolutionary wave of big-budgeted, special-effects laden movies that audiences around the globe went wild for. The year prior to Iron Man’s arrival, lesser known DVD rental service Netflix had expanded their business model to one that began to focus on subscription streaming content. By 2010, Netflix was a global presence and superhero movies were clearly gaining significant momentum. Throughout the subsequent decade, both Netflix and the superhero genre continually surpassed expectations.
But as these inevitable changes have dug in and held their ground over the years, not everyone feels that what they offer is entirely beneficial to cinema. After consistently remaining somewhat absent from superhero franchises since their start, Matt Damon has stated that he feels that the combination of streaming services and superhero movies is ruining the industry in some ways. His recent comments came during an interview with The Sunday Times. Lamenting that his children are more interested in their phones than films, Damon said:
The way they watch is different to how we did. How can you watch a movie if you are texting? As someone who makes these things I can’t say I love that. Movies as we know them aren’t going to be a thing in our kids’ lives. And that makes me sad.
Damon then spoke about how plummeting home video sales in the face of ever-growing streaming options lead studios to make films with more “international” appeal, thereby giving rise to the superhero phenomenon:
It made the most profitable movie, one that could travel around the world. And if you want a movie to travel and play big you want the least amount of cultural confusion. So there is the rise of the superhero movie, right? They’re easy for everyone. You know who the good person is, who the bad person is. They fight three times and the good person wins twice.
For anyone who’s been paying attention to the current state of filmmaking in Hollywood, the point Damon is making is hardly a new one. A lengthy list of acclaimed and popular filmmakers have been criticizing both the superhero genre and the stranglehold that subscription streaming services have on the film release model for years now. As filmmakers like Damon - who fluctuates between smaller-indie style films and larger scale studio efforts - have discovered, the landscape for films that don’t fit well into either of the current dominant paradigms is becoming an increasingly merciless one.
The argument can certainly be made that Matt Damon's stance on the current state of movies comes from someone who simply doesn’t want to acknowledge that times change. That’s an obvious take on what’s happening here, but it ultimately fails to take in the bigger picture that while filmmaking is a business, placing total focus on that business model comes at a price. In this particular case, that price has the ability to entirely transform cinema, for good or ill.
Source: The Sunday Times