2023-11-10 22:36:57
PABLO SCARPELLINI
los angeles
Updated Friday, November 10, 2023 – 21:36
The streaming giant will project the titles from its catalog to be able to compete at the Oscars and announces a classic film program in the theater where ‘Robin Hood’ premiered 101 years ago
The interior of the Egyptian Theater during the press presentation.R. BECK /AFP
If Douglas Fairbanks lifted his head he would find that the theater where his Robin Hood premiered 101 years ago, the Egyptian, is now in the hands of a streaming giant that many in the Hollywood Academy and the industry at large perceive as a serious threat to the survival of movie theaters in general. The irony is evident. Netflix, however, inaugurated it this week after three and a half years of restoration, brandishing the flag of what it really is: its savior. If it were not for the more than 70 million dollars that has been injected into it, the old theater will be at risk of disappearing.
Far from entering into controversy, Ted Sarandosthe executive president of Netflix, presented it on Monday before a group of guests and journalists as great news for film lovers and an opportunity to see gems of the seventh art such as West Side Story, 2001: A Space Odyssey or Lawrence on screen from Arabia, to name some of those that are scheduled on the billboard for the coming weeks.
This is on weekends and operated by the American Cinematheque, the cultural institution whose objective is to preserve and exhibit cinema of all time. From Monday to Thursday the room will be reserved for screenings of Netflix titlesfulfilling the requirement of the Hollywood Academy to project its titles in a cinema open to the public to aspire to the Oscars.
Despite being a relative newcomer to Hollywood history, we wanted to show that we love and respect that historysaid Sarandos, staying faithful to the distinctive aspects of a building that he considers a temple of audiovisual narrative and one of the two most recognizable icons of the cinema mecca. The other is the Hollywood sign. Over the years, everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Audrey Hepburn to Marlon Brando sat in the seats you now occupy.
Everyone from Chaplin to Audrey Hepburn to Marlon Brando sat in the seats you now occupy.
Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix
Those. Sarandos has clarified that Netflix’s intention is not to keep the finances of movie theaters afloat, but to preserve the big screen experience itself. We release our movies and series in theaters almost every night, and we rent theaters to do so, the executive said. We realized that there was an opportunity to make good use of our money by preserving a large building like the Egyptian or the Paris, referring to the other historic room that was going to become a pharmacy in New York and that Netflix rescued with another injection of millions.
Even so, the Californian company does not seem very interested in following in the footsteps of other technological giants that are exploiting the benefits of the box office, such as Apple, which successfully released the latest in more than 3,000 theaters. Martin ScorseseThe Assassins of the Moon, and will do the same with Napoleon, of Ridley Scottbefore they are available to Apple TV+ subscribers.
Of the $70 million, a portion has been allocated to a new sound system in a theater that began showing silent films – home of the first premiere in Hollywood history, the Robin Hood starring Fairbanks in 1922 – and that will now be one of five in the entire country with the capacity to present nitrate ribbonsa highly flammable medium that was used from the late 19th century until 1951.
On the outside, the Egyptian-style neon sign that faces Hollywood Boulevard and the hieroglyphs that decorate the walls preceding the room have been restored. Inside you can admire part of the memories of a building inaugurated by businessman Sid Grauman and where films such as The Thief of Bagdad, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, The Poseidon Adventure, Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back have been released.
The first screening will be held on Thursday after three and a half years of closure due to the pandemic. Netflix has chosen The Killer, the thriller David Fincher with which he hopes to make noise at the Oscars.
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