Last month, it was announced that FilmStruck—the movie streaming service that focused on classic, foreign, and arthouse films—will be shutting down November 29. FilmStruck was also home to the Criterion Collection’s streaming catalog. Now, a group of influential figures in the film industry have penned an open letter to Warner Bros Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich appealing the decision, Deadline reports. Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Hader, Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, Ana Lily Amirpour, Barbra Streisand, and many others have signed the open letter in hopes that the service can be saved.
“In a business that may render billions of dollars off a medium like cinema, we believe this is a gesture that is needed—a minuscule show of goodwill towards the preservation and accessibility of a tradition and a rich history that would benefit the public,” the letter says. The letter also notes that the service is allegedly being shut down because of an “upcoming Warners streaming service” and that directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have previously been in touch with Warners Media Group about the preservation of FilmStruck. Read the full letter via Deadline.
The open letter follows the viral online petition “Keep FilmStruck Alive,” which has garnered over 50,000 signatures since launching in October.
