Patty Jenkins on direct-to-streaming movies: ‘They look like fake movies to me’

Director Patty Jenkins has become the center of the internet’s attention lately, as recent comments she made about direct-to-streaming movies surfaced. And, naturally, it has some fans stirred up online.

This comes off the heels of Jenkins’ movie Wonder Woman 1984 last year, which was basically forced to debut on HBO Max in the wake of the pandemic. And despite Jenkins’ wishes, Warner Bros. went ahead with releasing the movie on their streaming service instead of having it be exclusive to theaters. And currently, Jenkins is working on the movie Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which is set to come out in 2023.

And so, Jenkins made the controversial statement during CinemaCon last week, and the Los Angeles Times provided an edited transcript of some of the conversation that she had during a panel with movie theater executives. The LA Times article was shared on Tuesday, and some other outlets reported on her statements as well, but it didn’t pick up as a trending topic until today.

For what it’s worth, the full transcript from the LA Times is worth the read, as Jenkins had an interesting conversation about where movie theaters, movie studios and movie creators fit in during this time where streaming is taking over. But to cut to the chase, here’s what Jenkins had to a say about movies that are made for streaming only:

"And by the way, aren’t you seeing it? All of the films that streaming services are putting out, I’m sorry, they look like fake movies to me. I don’t hear about them, I don’t read about them. It’s not working as a model for establishing legendary greatness."

Streaming vs. movie theater debate heats up

Naturally, online, people had a few things to say about Jenkins and her opinion about streaming movies. As Screen Rant mentions in their story, yes, there are some bad direct-to-streaming movies out there that have the same feel as the old “direct-to-VHS” movies. But at the same time, there are some huge movies that were produced for streaming platforms, particularly Netflix, that have gotten some prestige. On Netflix’s side, for example, that includes films like Roma, The Irishman and Marriage Story — all of which were nominated for Best Picture.

To add insult to injury, Jenkins also came under fire for criticizing those movies as being bad, while not acknowledging that Wonder Woman 1984 itself wasn’t a hit with many critics and fans.

Here are some Twitter reactions to what Jenkins had to say.

So, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, especially with Rogue Squadron on the horizon. It’s highly unlikely that Lucasfilm would make this a Disney+ exclusive movie. But at the same time, the industry is changing, and anything is possible now.

Do you side with Patty Jenkins on the matter, or do you think streaming movies can, in fact, be good? Let us know in the comments or on social media.