Steven Spielberg made some waves recently in stating he reveres traditional theaters and hopes they remain around forever. While he may not be thrilled about Oscar-winning films skipping major theatrical releases, he's not entirely burnt on the streaming medium because he has a television series he's working on with a streaming service as we speak. While streaming movies may be a no-no for the acclaimed director, apparently he's fine with bringing a revival of Amazing Stories to Apple TV.
Steven Spielberg first brought Amazing Stories to television audiences back in 1985 on NBC. Part fantasy, horror, and science fiction, the anthology series featured stories that were, for a lack of a better term, amazing until NBC opted out of renewing it in 1987. It's presumed a revival would be more of the same, except this time it would air exclusively on Apple TV, which is slated to release this fall, according to an Apple presentation (via Variety).
The move may be confusing for those vaguely familiar with Spielberg's recent comments on streaming, but it checks out. Spielberg's specific comments referred to his wish that the movie theater experience is upheld. The comments were observed by some to be a comment about streaming services and the trend that many high profile directors are now making movies directly for platforms like Netflix and bypassing theater runs. The comment wasn't explicitly stated as Spielberg being anti-streaming, but there's an implication.
Right now, it appears the key difference is format. Amazing Stories was a television series, so bringing it to streaming doesn't really hurt theaters or their bottom lines. With that said, one could make the argument that in collaborating with a streaming service that will make original films, he is driving audiences towards a format that could jeopardize the future of theaters.
Others may just accept the move for what it is, and be thrilled to see Amazing Stories make a comeback. Word of a revival first appeared in 2015 at NBC, with Bryan Fuller attempting to bring the show back to television. Fuller eventually took the project to Apple in 2017, and had stepped down as showrunner in February 2018. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have replaced him, and will serve as producers alongside Steven Spielberg.
Amazing Stories will also feature some of the brightest talents across Hollywood, although no names were explicitly mentioned. It's not hard to believe, however, considering the Apple TV presentation featured appearances from folks like Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, and Reese Witherspoon, all of whom will be involved in shows on the platform. Apple even has Oprah involved, so expect some big things from this service on the horizon.
The world will get to see Apple TV together when it launches in the fall. CinemaBlend will keep an eye on news related for it in the meantime, and continue to update audiences on the latest and greatest shows coming to television.
