Road House was a roundhouse on streaming, taking in 50 million viewers worldwide on Amazon Prime. Now, imagine if all of those people went to see it in the theaters and you’d have one of the biggest R-rated movies of the year. And that’s really how it should have turned out, as director Doug Liman always figured it would be going to the cinema. But Liman’s continued disagreement over MGM bypassing a theatrical release for Road House doesn’t just remain because of that – it also comes down to money in his own pocket.

As Doug Liman told IndieWire, by putting Road House on Amazon Prime, the studio screwed himself and a number of other key players – including star Jake Gyllenhaal – out of proper financial compensation. “My issue on Road House is that we made the movie for MGM to be in theaters, everyone was paid as if it was going to be in theaters, and then Amazon switched it on us and nobody got compensated. Forget about the effect on the industry — 50 million people saw Road House — I didn’t get a cent, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t get a cent, [producer] Joel Silver didn’t get a cent. That’s wrong.”

While the contractual stipulations for Road House aren’t exactly known, it’s quite possible that Liman, Gyllenhaal, Silver, and maybe even more expected to make some extra cash from the backend that would have come via a percentage of ticket sales. With no ticket sales on Amazon Prime, that leaves less money to dole out to the creatives. Gyllenhaal has taken a different stance on the issue, however, saying “Amazon was always clear” where the movie would end up. Regardless of where they’re both coming from, Gyllenhaal and even Liman are set to return for a sequel – presumably with more clear stipulations.

Interestingly, Doug Liman’s The Instigators premieres on Apple TV+ this weekend, although he has been much more copacetic with that streamer, as the heist movie was always intended to be housed there. “In the case of Apple, right from the beginning, we said we’re making this for streaming, our contracts compensated streaming, we’re all compensated for it being on streaming — there’s something called a streaming buyout — so Apple has been above-board from the beginning.”

Who do you think is at fault in the Road House theatrical vs. streaming debacle? Do you think it would have fared well on the big screen?

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