Todd Phillips has an idea for how to fix the theatrical experience: “Stop showing commercials before the movies”

Empire Magazine published a poll of leading filmmakers on the future of cinema. George Miller, Sofia Coppola, Sean Baker, and many others weighed in on the theatrical vs. streaming debate, the use of AI, and what movie theaters can do to stay relevant and get people to come out rather than stay in and watch at home. 

On that last point, “Joker: Folie à Deux” director Todd Phillips has a novel suggestion: “Stop showing commercials before the movies,” he told theater owners. “We’ve paid for our tickets. We’re excited to be there. The commercials tend to take the air out of the room.”

OK, but I guess he’s never heard people recite the Moviegoer’s Pledge of Allegiance to Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad? 

“Joker 2” aside, Phillips knows a thing or two about how to get people to go to the movies; he is the 25th-highest-grossing director of all time, thanks to the “Hangover” trilogy, “Old School,” the first “Joker,” and others. 

Other highlights in the Empire poll include thoughtful comments for and against filmmakers agreeing to go straight-to-streaming from Paul Feig and Sean Baker, and “Rebel Ridge” director Jeremy Saulnier swearing off AI, saying, “Film sets are electric because they are inhabited by living, breathing people with experience and ideas that, from time to time, are able to catch lightning in a bottle. F— all that fake s— because, you know — for me? The action is the juice.”

Check out the full poll at Empire.