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As the Jake Gyllenhaal-led Road House remake gears up to hit Amazon Prime this March, its director, Doug Liman, has dropped a bombshell. The filmmaker shared his plans to protest the movie’s premiere, along with provided details regarding how Amazon Studios has decided to make it a streaming-only release, despite Liman allegedly initially signing on to make the movie for a theatrical audience.
Doug Liman put Amazon on blast in a Deadline editorial just as the first poster for the movie dropped online. In his words:
When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won’t be attending. The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.
Road House is set to premiere on opening night of the SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas. However, as Liman shared, he has decided to skip out on being part of the event because he is unhappy with the way Amazon is handling the release of the movie. Doug Liman explained that when he decided to make Road House, initially with MGM, it was going to be a theatrical release. However, Amazon then bought MGM, and the new studio told him to “make a great film” and they’d “see what happens.” Liman continued as follows:
We made Road House a ‘smash hit’ – Amazon’s words not mine, btw. Road House tested higher than my biggest box office hit, Mr. and Mrs Smith. It tested higher than Bourne Identity, which spawned four sequels. I’m told the press response has been Amazon’s best since they bought MGM. Road House has a strong tie-in to the UFC, which has a rabid and loyal fan base that has spawned over 1.5 billion social media impressions for the film, and marketing hasn’t even started yet. The action is ground-breaking. And Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career-defining performance in a role he was born to play. Audiences will want to see UFC mega-star Conor McGregor take his debut swing at Jake on the big screen.
Amazon closed an $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM in May of 2022, just a few months ahead of the Road House remake officially rolling cameras. As Liman shared, the movie being caught in the crossfires of this has now led to it getting a streaming-only release. The director is frustrated by this for a few reasons.
For one, he claims the remake tested super high with audiences, therefore having the potential to be a big box office hit. Liman has a solid history of seeing his movies go to theaters and making solid numbers, between 2002’s The Bourne Identity and 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. However, Liman has seen his share of box office failures for movies too, such as with 2021’s Chaos Walking.
Liman is bothered that without a theatrical release, Gyllenhaal loses out on awards chances and UFC fans won’t get to see Conor McGregor’s debut performance on the big screen. Liman also said this:
What else could I have delivered to the studio? Nothing, it turns out. Because contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House physique went viral early last year when the actor turned up at UFC 285’s weigh-in ceremony to film a scene for the movie. The Road House remake has been described as an edgier version of the 1989 movie starring Patrick Swayze, which also featured a professional wrestler with the late Terry Funk among the cast.
Elsewhere in the editorial, Doug Liman also claimed that Amazon’s decision to not bring Road House to theaters is a bigger problem than his film itself, saying it could be “industry shaping for decades to come” if he hadn’t spoken up. Liman also blasted Amazon for going against its word to bring “the largest commitment to cinemas by an internet company” when Amazon reportedly decided to put billions of dollars into making “theatrical” motion pictures.
We’ll have to see if Liman’s comments hold any weight in the weeks to come as Road House premieres at SXSW and becomes exclusively available to stream with an Amazon Prime subscription this March 21.