Quentin Tarantino has hit out at cinema chain chiefs for ruining the experience of going to the movies.
The Reservoir Dogs director recently bought Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard’s famous Vista Theatre, one of many cinemas whose takings have been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, despite being one of cinema’s strongest advocates, the filmmaker believes some multiplex venues deserve to die out.
“Look, I never liked theatres closing but… they have taken all the specialness out of movies anyway,” he said on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast. “They have been writing their epitaph for a long time.”
In 2007, the movie legend bought another cinema, the New Beverly, where he only shows films shot in his preferred celluloid format.
He went on to complain that cinema chiefs are too focused on earning money through selling food rather than the moviegoing experience.
“Some of these exhibitors that are going, they f**king deserve to go,” the 58-year-old said. “Whether it’s showing commercials all through it, they don’t turn the lights down, everything is stadium seating, it’s all about popcorn.”
He went on to say that the venues that would thrive post-pandemic are “not the ones that give you large reclining seats and serve margaritas and roast beef sandwiches. I’ve got a living room. I want to go to a movie theatre.”
Tarantino is currently promoting his debut novel - a book version of his hit 2019 movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.