Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesshas come out, and it had 70 screenings in a single day at the AMC Theater in Times Square. Most people would probably say that’s a lot. In the wake of the theater dominance of theDoctor Strangesequel starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, a clip fromThe Howard Stern Showhas resurfaced. In it, the titular radio host is interviewing screenwriter, director, and now published authorQuentin Tarantinoabout the screening of his then most recent movie,The Hateful Eight.
In the clip, Tarantino is talking about howThe Hateful Eightwas going to play at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, which as someone who grew up in L.A., was a huge deal to him. They were scheduled to start on December 25 and then play for two weeks, but then Disney decided they wantedStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which was scheduled to play the previous two weeks, to play throughout the entire holiday season. And when Arclight, who owns the Cinerama Dome, said ‘no, we have a contract withThe Hateful Eightpeople,’ Disney threatened to preventStar Warsfrom playing at any Arclight movie theaters,
“They’ve got the biggest movie in the whole. We’re talking about one effing theater,” said Tarantino.
Twitter user Brandon Streussnig reshared this clip of the interview. Below was a retweet from Matt Singer, the editor/critic atScreenCrush.com. Singer had posted a picture of only some of the screening times forDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.The picture takes up the whole screengrab, and as Singer explains in the caption, he couldn’t even fit them all. While it’s unknown if Disney made a similar demand of AMC studios that it did for the Cinerama Dome, the high number of screenings does make it seem like other films would push out other films the same wayThe Hateful Eightwas to take over the time slot.
A Bigger Concern
This tweet from Streussnig and Singer is emblematic of an ongoing concern when it comes to cinema. The Disney Company’s acquisition of multiple studios over the last few years has led to some people leveling the accusation that cinemas are becoming much less diverse. That is, of course, on top of all the other comments from other prominent Hollywood figures such as Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve, and Francis Ford Coppola. They have criticized the prevalence of superhero movies during these modern times.
In an interview with Deadline, Tarantino proclaimed that a war between movies played out in 2019, between the major studio brand movies likeMarvel, Star Wars, Godzilla,andJames Bond, and more independent features likeOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. According to Tarantino, that would have been the year that the commercial products owned by conglomerates would have finally achieved world domination if not for the all original movies that demanded to be seen. The rehashing of Stern’s interview with Tarantino suggests that concern over “a last stand” between different movie types is still ongoing.
