James Cameron rejects Oscars for THIS reason

James Cameron gave a controversial opinion on the ongoing debate about the future of theatrical films amid the rise of OTT platforms.

The Canadian filmmaker on his recent appearance on the podcast The Town With Matthew Belloni talked about the streaming movies and their place at awards such as Oscars.

While promoting his upcoming film, Avatar: Fire And Ash, Cameron declared that films made for Netflix should not be eligible unless they have completed full theatrical runs.

Cameron criticized the approach of Netflix to theatrical releases.

He called these short runs designed to meet Academy Awards eligibility requirements ‘sucker bait’.

“It’s sucker bait,” Cameron said to Belloni. “‘We’ll put the movie out for a week or 10 days. We’ll qualify for Oscar consideration.’ See, I think that’s fundamentally rotten to the core. A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical, and the Academy Awards mean nothing to me if they don’t mean theatrical. I think they’ve been co-opted, and I think it’s horrific.”

The 71-year-old, who has won multiple Oscars for Titanic and earned nominations for Avatar and its sequels, stated the condition the streaming films must follow before qualifying for these accolades.

If a movie is shown in 2,000 theatres for a month, only then it should eligible.

Cameron’s comments came at a time when Netflix aims to acquire Warner Bros. vying with Comcast and Paramount.

He warned that Netflix takeover ‘would be a disaster’

Cameron referred to Netflix CEO Ted Sarando’s past remarks that ‘theatrical films are dead’.

For the unversed, the new Avatar movie is set to hit theatres on December 19.