Disclosure Day director Steven Spielberg has set a surprising condition for ever directing a Netflix movie. The legendary filmmaker says he would need the platform to revive a piece of its own history first.

Steven Spielberg’s long-standing preference for theatrical releases

Spielberg has long championed the big-screen experience, and now he has laid out his streaming terms plainly. He said he would only make a Netflix movie if the platform mailed DVDs to subscribers’ homes and not stream to millions of screens simultaneously.

“If I did that, I would be happy to work for Netflix and make a movie for Netflix, knowing that it’s only going to be seen by millions of people on their home screens,” he told ITV News. “But I’m a movie maker, and I believe in big motion picture, 70-millimeter theatrical experiences.”

The director explained why the communal cinema experience is irreplaceable. He traced it back to the very origins of film — when audiences gathered in dance halls and pubs around crude projectors, sending flickering images onto hanging sheets.

“A place where strangers congregate and in disagreement or agreement, they are in agreement on one thing. They have a response all at the same time to the images that they’re getting from the screen,” he said.
Steven Spielberg pointed to the making of Jaws as a defining example. He recalled watching preview audiences erupt like popcorn flying, people screaming when a pivotal scare moment hit. “You don’t get that sitting at home by yourself,” he said. “You’ll still scream, but it’s not as much fun if you’re alone or with five other people.”

That commitment extends to how he handles press screenings, too. During the same interview, the outlet thanked him for holding the press screening for Disclosure Day in a cinema, noting that films are often sent out as digital screeners with the journalist’s email burned into the frame. Spielberg was unequivocal, “No, no, no. I would never let that happen.”

For him, the cinema is not just a venue — it is the entire point.