Los Angeles (AFP)

Martin Scorsese's upcoming film, "The Irishman", with the legendary duo Robert De Niro-Al Pacino, will only benefit from a very limited release in American theaters before it is broadcast on the Netflix platform that produces it.

Filming this highly anticipated gangster movie cost $ 175 million. With such super-productions, Netflix is ​​trying to find a place in the traditional film industry, while seeking to defend its economic model that favors its platform rather than movie theaters.

A strategy that makes people cringe in Hollywood where some, like director Steven Spielberg, insist that films made for streaming platforms are declared ineligible for the Oscars, the supreme rewards of cinema.

Currently, the Oscars rules stipulate that a film must be screened for at least seven days in the Los Angeles area in order to compete.

Anxious to combine his commercial interests with his ambitions for the Oscars, Netflix announced Tuesday that "The Irishman" would be released in the United States in a few cinemas in Los Angeles and New York on November 1, then in other US theaters and British November 8.

Martin Scorsese's movie will be available worldwide on Netflix as of November 27th.

According to the specialized press, "The Irishman" should be mainly screened by independent cinemas, major networks having insisted, in vain, to have the film at least 90 days before its release on another medium, as is the tradition.

Netflix recently joined other major Hollywood studios in the Motion Picture Association of America, a powerful industry association.

The platform won a big success this year at the Oscars with the film "Roma" by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, with three statuettes. "Roma" had a release in the rooms of 23 days in parallel with its streaming.

On Tuesday, Netflix also announced the release of a dozen films that should be able to compete at various film awards this season, including "The Laundromat" by Steven Soderbergh, with Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, or "Dolemite is My Name ", which will sign the return of Eddie Murphy.

These ten films will be released in theaters for a duration of between one week and one month.

© 2019 AFP