Last night, I packed into an IMAX screening of One Battle After Another, and for three hours, I had an amazing communal experience with fellow Los Angeles film buffs.
I loved the movie, but even if I didn’t, I’d have felt good when I left, because I was voting with my wallet. I was telling movie studios that I want more movies like this one, more original ideas made by auteurs with a distinct and even dangerous feeling behind them.
As it turns out, I was also doing what Leonardo DiCaprio wants audiences to do.
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He recently told Variety, “I think there’s just an inundation of content and so much production going on now — which is a good thing, obviously. But I think box office is important because it means people are in the seats going to the theater, going to have that communal experience,” said DiCaprio.
And Leo was not shy about telling us why this movie is different from the others you may contemplate seeing this weekend.
He said, “I mean, Paul shot this movie in Vista Vision — cameras that have rarely been used since the early ‘60s. He wants people to have that immersive experience and make an action film that’s unexpected, tactile, realistic, and something that is probably a lot different than what we’ve been saturated with. In that respect, box office is very important,” he said.
The box office being important is real. If you want movies like these to be made, you have to go and see them.
If you dream of making movies like these, you have to go and see them.
Hollywood is in a reciprocal relationship with its audiences.
And we have to uphold our end of the bargain.
DiCaprio finished with, “I would only hope that people go out to the theater and experience it the way it’s meant to be seen.”
I do think it’s hard to mix capitalism in with messaging, but the power we have as an audience is to show up. And I know DiCaprio wants us to use that power for this movie.
But it’s much bigger than that; it’s using it to make sure movies like this even get made.
Let me know what you think in the comments.