(Credit: Netflix)

Joel Edgerton, the star of Netflix’s latest, Train Dreams, recently weighed in on James Cameron’s critical take that movies without theatrical runs shouldn’t qualify for the Oscars.

At the Gotham Awards on Monday Night, the actor said to Variety, “None of us should be squabbling with each other over what has a right to be seen or part of conversation – because there are some people that only get their chance because of streamers.” “I don’t necessarily think something should be seen as lesser than,” Edgerton continued.

His response comes on the heels of Cameron’s appearance on Matt Belloni’s podcast, The Town, where he slammed the streaming giant’s award strategy as “fundamentally rotten at the core.” He contested that the platform should only be eligible to compete when a movie plays for over a month in at least 2000 theatres.

“A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical. The Academy Awards to me mean nothing if they don’t mean theatrical,” Cameron added.

In 2019, Roma became the first film distributed primarily by a streaming service to earn a ‘Best Picture’ nomination at the Oscars. While Netflix has since earned 10 nominations in the category, it has yet to bag the prestigious honour. All these Netflix films fulfilled the basic eligibility rules, opting for limited theatrical releases in major cities. However, none had a traditional wide release.

The Academy’s updated rules for 2025 state that ‘Best Picture’ aspirants must have a one-week qualifying run alongside a seven-day expansion in 10 of the top 50 US markets within 45 days of the initial release. Highlighting them, Edgerton explained how the changes could have a negative impact on titles with lower budgets, especially those that lack resources to tap into market-extended runs.

“I think the point that James is making is that there should be more of a robust fight for the survival of cinema, but at the cost of saying that people whose only chance is to get their movies made on a streamer shouldn’t have a chance to also be seen and heard,” he continued.

“Some people who have had a long history, where it makes it a bit easier for them, they’re willing to fight harder. And I really respect that. James is one of the greats. He’s making movies on a big canvas. He’s always been a pioneer.”

On the flip side, some stars sided with Cameron’s stance on prioritising theatrical releases at the Oscars, including Sentimental Value actor Stellan Skarsgard. “That’s the only way to make the theatre survive. That’s the only way to make cinema survive. And without cinema, you don’t have any Netflix,” he said.

That said, according to a recent AP-NORC survey, approximately three-quarters of US adults have watched a fresh movie on streaming rather than in theatres at least once in the past year. In fact, moviegoers are clearly inclined towards streaming in the post-pandemic era, as is evident from the viewership records.

“I understand the sentiment behind why [Cameron] would say that, but because of the increasing number of great films that have been made for streaming, I just don’t think that fits in with the reality that we’re living in right now,” said director Park Chan-Wook.

While Edgerton, too, could understand where Cameron was coming from, he couldn’t help but vouch for movies on streaming, recounting a question his friend once asked. “A friend of mine once said to me, ‘How many of your favourite films did you ever actually watch at the cinema?’ Most of my favourite movies were made in the 70s… I didn’t get a chance to watch him until I was watching them on a VHS cassette on a shitty TV. And they’re still my favourite films.”