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The first trailer for the remake of Road House–the cult-classic ’80s action film starring the late Patrick Swayze–is here, and just like the original film, it looks like an action-packed exploration of how to deal with the rudest of patrons at your local bar. Starring Jake Gyllenhall as a former UFC fighter turned bouncer, the first trailer has plenty of hard-hitting scenes, fast cars, and real UFC brawler Connor McGregor on a rampage.
Road House will be skipping a theatrical release and will be available through Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video on March 21, a move that has led the film’s director to boycott the upcoming SXSW premiere of the movie. In a guest column on Deadline, Doug Liman criticized Amazon’s decision to go straight to streaming with Road House.
“When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won’t be attending,” Liman wrote. “The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.”
Liman criticized Amazon over its claim that it would invest over $1 billion in theatrical movies, adding that the company did the “opposite of what they promised” when it took over MGM. Liman added that Amazon called his Road House remake a potential “smash hit” and that it earned high praise from test screenings, some of which were higher than his previous films.
“Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime,” Liman said. “Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures. That hurts the filmmakers and stars of Road House who don’t share in the upside of a hit movie on a streaming platform. And they deprive Jake Gyllenhaal–who gives a career-best performance–the opportunity to be recognized come award season. But the impact goes far beyond this one movie. This could be industry-shaping for decades to come.”
At the same time, Liman noted that he wasn’t opposed to the idea of movies being available on streaming services as he has been involved in producing several of them. Liman concluded his column by saying he is “opposed to Amazon gutting MGM and its theatrical business, as I would have been had Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and then gutted its newsroom (he did the opposite).”
Note: The Washington post did cut more than 200 jobs at the end of 2023.
