Cannes Targets Netflix With New Rule Requiring Theatrical Releases, Starting in 2018

The Cannes Film Festival has issued a new decree to buck the controversy surrounding its choice to include two Netflix productions in this year’s main competition. Starting in 2018, in order to qualify for competition, films must have a theatrical release in France.

Wednesday’s announcement comes a month after The French National Cinema Federation, a group representing the country’s theater owners, issued a statement calling on Netflix to play ball and roll out Noah Baumbach‘s “The Meyerowitz Stories” and Bong Joon-Ho’s “Okja” on their screens.

Both films are competing for this year’s Palme d’Or at the festival, which runs from May 17 – May 28.

Also Read: Cannes: Netflix Considers Limited Theatrical Run for Competition Titles in France

Netflix responded, saying it would consider a limited theatrical run for the films in France, “because similar to French exhibitors, we want to continue to contribute to the development and financing of films.”

Cannes’ new rule makes that a requirement, as of next year.

In its statement announcing the development, Cannes addressed “a rumor has recently spread about a possible exclusion of the Official Selection of Noah Baumbach and Bong Joon Ho whose films have been largely financed by Netflix.”

“The Festival de Cannes does reiterate that, as announced on April 13th, these two films will be presented in Official Selection and in Competition,” confirmed the statement.

“The Festival de Cannes is aware of the anxiety aroused by the absence of the release in theaters of those films in France,” it continued. “The Festival de Cannes asked Netflix in vain to accept that these two films could reach the audience of French movie theaters and not only its subscribers. Hence the Festival regrets that no agreement has been reached.

Also Read: Cannes Lineup Includes Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach, Todd Haynes Movies

“The Festival is pleased to welcome a new operator which has decided to invest in cinema but wants to reiterate its support to the traditional mode of exhibition of cinema in France and in the world. Consequently, and after consulting its Members of the Board, the Festival de Cannes has decided to adapt its rules to this unseen situation until now: any film that wishes to compete in Competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theaters. This new measure will apply from the 2018 edition of the Festival International du Film de Cannes onwards.”

On Wednesday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings issued a statement on Facebook, complaining that “The establishment closing ranks against us.”

Hastings also plugged the June 28 streaming release of “Okja” which he oddly described as a film “that theatre chains want to block us from entering into Cannes film festival competition.”

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Cannes Parties 2016: Katy Perry, Usher, Village People Are Best in Show (Photos)

Katy Perry, Salma Hayek, Usher and a surprise appearance from the Village People top the glam circuit of the year at the Cannes bashes.
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Elle Fanning and Katy Perry stole the show at the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala on Thursday, May 19. It is the last big bash of the festival and the most prestigious, located about 30 minutes outside Cannes.
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Paris Hilton ... is still on the list for amfAR. Models Toni Garrn and Karlie Kloss are now regulars, and Uma Thurman is a permanent fixture.
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At amfAR on the grounds of the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc, one of these things is not like the other. The Village People have yet to draft a beret-wearing, bicycle-riding, baguette-eating stereotype in to their band for this special appearance.
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Irina Shayk and race car driver Lewis Hamilton.
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As for getting away from Cannes madness, David Unger and Three Six Zero entertainment went large earlier in the week with helicopter transport to their lunch.
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Inside, Unger (far right) welcomed guests Sebastien Besson (CEO of the Ace of Spade champagne house, Armand de Brigand) and Usher, in town promoting his role as Sugar Ray Leonard in "Hands of Stone."
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Usher with the real Roberto Duran after the "Hands of Stone" premiere. Someone should have told the audience "no mas." The famed ("no more" in english) quote from the Leonard-Duran 1980 boxing match is a part of sports history, but could have applied to the 15-minute standing ovation for the biopic.
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Edgar Ramirez (who plays Duran), Ana de Armas, and the real Roberto Duran.
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At the Weinstein Company party for "Hands of Stone," Toni Garrn is barefoot because that's yacht protocol ...
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... unless you're Harvey Weinstein, of course. In a real power move, Harvey need not remove his shoes on the Weinstein yacht.
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Directors Nicolas Winding Refn and Jim Jarmusch ported the boxing "fist pose" to other parts of Cannes, striking it at Col Needham's IMDb dinner party ...
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... as Oscar Jaenada (far right) brought it to the Vanity Fair party on Saturday night at the Hotel du Cap.
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VF had a golden hour bash, starting in the day...
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... and transitioning to night.
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VF host Graydon Carter welcomes Livia Firth (left) with Anna Scott Carter. HBO partnered on the dinner.
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The idyllic early summer south of France sunset provided this postcard from the festival party scene with Salma Hayek and Chloe Sevigny.
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Warner Bros. President Sue Kroll and Brett Ratner inside the du Cap.
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Robert De Niro received a tribute at the festival, tied to his role in "Hands of Stone" as boxing trainer Ray Arcel.
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A peek inside Amazon's five-picture joint party at the popup of Paris club Silencio.
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The HFPA lived up to their "global" moniker with a hot party in the opening days. Lilla Soria, HFPA president Lorenzo Soria, Sony Pictures Classics Co-President Michael Barker, Caroline Baron, and SPC Co-President Tom Bernard.
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Jury president George Miller, Jeff Skoll, and Fox studios president Jim Gianopulos made the scene at the benefit for Filmaid International.
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The HFPA's most social savvy duo: Lorenzo Soria and Munawar Hosain scoped out their bash.
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Paul Allen's yacht party made a comeback this year with a more upscale crowd than recent years: Mick Jagger, fellow rock royalty in the form of Elvis offspring Riley Keough, Kate Hudson, recent Oscar winner Mark Rylance, Kristen Stewart, Heidi Klum, and the host played Pink Floyd guitar solos partied at sea. Cellphones were frowned upon.
The theme of the event was "enchanted garden" and included a live sculpture model greeting guests waiting to board the shuttle boats out to the yacht.
Millenium's Avi Lerner checked in with Meir Fenigstein at a cocktail party promoting this fall's Israeli Film Festival in LA.
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IMDb's Col Needham, Chaz Ebert, and TIFF's Cameron Bailey, who gets to enjoy Cannes as a guest, not a programmer.
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