Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio has issued a stark warning about the future of the big screen, suggesting the traditional cinema experience is rapidly losing ground to streaming services.
A Lukewarm Box Office for a Critical Hit
The 51-year-old actor, widely tipped for another Oscar nomination for his role in One Battle After Another, made the comments as his latest film underperformed financially. Despite being hailed as a 'masterpiece' by critics and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, the political thriller has struggled to recoup its costs.
According to industry publication Variety, the film has taken in $204.7 million globally. However, with a reported budget of $175 million plus substantial marketing expenses, it needed to make approximately $300 million just to break even.
'Do People Still Have the Appetite?'
In a candid interview with The Sunday Times alongside director Anderson, DiCaprio questioned the shifting habits of modern audiences. 'It’s changing at a lightning speed. We’re looking at a huge transition,' he stated.
He pointed to the sequential disappearance of documentaries and then dramas from lengthy cinema runs, with viewers now often choosing to wait for titles to appear on streamers. 'I don’t know. Do people still have the appetite? Or will cinemas become silos — like jazz bars?' he pondered.
The Netflix Bid Fuelling Industry Fears
Contributing to the actor's concerns is a major potential shift in the media landscape. Last month, streaming giant Netflix made an $82.7 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio behind One Battle After Another.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has previously cited declining box office figures as proof that the communal cinema experience is an 'outmoded idea for most people'. This stance alarms many in the industry, including DiCaprio and Anderson, who view the push towards streaming as 'hand-to-hand combat' for the soul of filmmaking.
Opponents of the deal fear that Netflix's algorithm-driven, risk-averse model could further harm a struggling Hollywood.
DiCaprio expressed a hope that visionary filmmakers would still get opportunities to create unique work for the cinema screen, but admitted, 'that remains to be seen'. He reiterated the importance of box office success, stating, 'it means people are in the seats going to theatre, going to have that communal experience.'
Despite its financial challenges, One Battle After Another has received widespread critical acclaim. The politically charged action-thriller, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, features a star-studded cast including Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, and Regina Hall.
DiCaprio's comments on cinema's future follow his recent critique of AI in the arts, where he told TIME magazine that anything considered authentic art 'has to come from the human being'.
