Paramount Blocks Movie Theaters From Putting Intermissions Into 3.5-Hour Killers Of The Flower Moon
I was thinking about seeing this, but after reading the studio and the editor’s delusional/egomaniacal/self-important reactions below, I’m glad to say I’ll definitely be skipping this crap. Won’t waste my time in the theater or view it at home. Via Deadline:
A handful of theaters across the globe have imposed their own intermission on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Deadline has confirmed, leading to intervention on the part of the Apple pic’s primarily theatrical distributor, Paramount, and international partners. While intermissions were reportedly put in place at one Colorado theater and in numerous international territories, given the Oklahoma-set crime epic’s runtime of three hours and 26 minutes, they comprise a violation of the domestic licensing agreement for the project, Deadline hears, and have thus been swiftly shut down. But not before drawing the attention of Thelma Schoonmaker, the three-time Oscar-winning editor who has cut pictures for Scorsese since the 1960s. “I understand that somebody’s running it with an intermission which is not right,” Schoonmaker told The Standard. “That’s a violation so I have to find out about it.”
[Deadline]
So, let me get this straight. Instead of having an intermission so people can go pee and not miss a single moment of her masterpiece, she would rather have random people getting up at different times throughout the 3.5 hours (disturbing entire rows of other patrons), and then not seeing several minutes of the movie while in the bathroom? Sure, a theater owner deciding when to put in the intermission might make Schoonmaker feel like someone else is “editing” her movie, but isn’t that better than people completely missing multiple scenes? Does she actually care if people see her movie in full, or not? By her and Paramount’s insane logic, people should be blocked from pushing pause on their home TVs when the film starts streaming on Apple next month! Fuck off. I guess if you pee right before the movie starts and then drink NOTHING for the entire 206 minutes, maybe you wouldn’t have to pee? Of course, how are theaters supposed to make any money if people aren’t buying sodas? The only profits they make are from the concession stands. Maybe they should start selling portable catheters and Depends® alongside the Milk Duds.
I made the mistake of sipping on a bottle of water while seeing Oppenheimer in a theater over the summer, and after about two hours, I had to pee so bad it became painful. I refuse to miss parts of a movie, so I sat there in agony for the last 45 minutes of that movie’s 3-hour runtime. Never again.
