George Miller would find it painful if Three Thousand Years of Longing debuted on streaming

George Miller is feeling the love for Three Thousand Years of Longing. The film’s trailer has seen a warm reception from movie fans and it also received a six-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. MGM is releasing the fantastical love story and despite their recent merger with Amazon, the film is getting a theatrical release. According to Miller, anything else would be painful to witness.

During a chat with Variety, Miller admitted to being a true believer in cinema and the theatrical experience. He went on to say, “it would be very painful to know that your movie will be first seen on streaming.” MGM is committed to releasing his latest film as Miller intended. Here is what he had to say about the film’s release:

“There’s a commitment that they can’t change. MGM will release it at the end of August in 2,000 cinemas. There’s been no deal that MGM has made to stream the movie. At this moment, it will be a theatrical release. Seeing it in that cinema [the Palais], with that sound, that group of people, and knowing every little bit of work that we put into it, will be available to the audiences.”

Per the film’s official synopsis, “Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic – content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually, she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.” The film also stars Kaan Guldur, Alyla Browne, and Angie Tricker.

Considering how much the pandemic changed moviegoing, it’s nice to see a studio is still committed to releasing films theatrically before settling on streaming. Even with all of these changes Miller says he’s not worried about the future of cinema. The director said, “I think congregations of people telling each other stories has evolved since early man. Cinema just has to adapt to it.”

What are YOUR thoughts on George Miller’s opinions about his film not debuting on streaming?