South Korean legendary director Bong Joon Ho has given his honest statement on the mega Netflix-Warner Bros. deal.
On Saturday, December 5, the Parasite director attended the Marrakech Film Festival, where he serves as this year's jury president and engaged in a two-hour interview.
During the session, the audience saw clips from his headline-making projects, and Bong discussed his upbringing in South Korea and cinema.
At the end of the event, an audience member asked Bong his thoughts on Netflix and Warner Bros.' shocking deal, which many critics are referring to as the "death of cinema".
"What do you think about this acquisition, and what do you think about films being screened on TV, even large TVs, and in cinemas with an audience? How do you see the future of cinema?" the question noted.
The Memories of Murder director teased, as he said, "To be honest, I don't know what's going on there in LA. I'm just a South Korean guy staying at home," causing the audience to laugh.
Bong shared that he "really enjoyed" watching two movies per day "in the big theatre, with the big screen" with other jury members over a 10 days at the Marrakech Film Festival.
"Streaming is also a good way to watch and enjoy movies," the Okja director said. "But I don't think the cinematic experience will disappear so easily."
On Friday, Netflix announced its plans to buy Warner Bros. and HBO Max in an $82.7 billion deal.
While the streaming giant's boss Ted Sarandos noted that Netflix "expects" to release Warner Bros. films theatrically and will keep HBO "operating largely as it is", he admitted that the theatrical windows of the films will "evolve" to be "more consumer friendly."
