Youâve no doubt heard plenty of filmmakers bemoan the impending death of the theatrical experience - now that weâre fully in the streaming era, and platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix are offering up A-list original films from big name directors like Martin Scorsese, itâs harder to justify driving out to a dark room full of strangers and spending up to $20 for a single ticket to a movie you canât pause or rewind. But director Sam Mendes, whose most recent film 1917 just won Best Motion Picture - Drama at the Golden Globes, doesnât think people will stop going to movie theaters altogether, as long as filmmakers continue to produce movies that make the theater experience irresistible.[caption id="attachment_836252" align="alignright" width="360"] Image via Universal Pictures[/caption]âI am optimistic, actually, but itâs in the hands of the filmmakers more than anything else,â Mendes said to The Hollywood Reporter backstage at the Golden Globes. âItâs up to filmmakers to make films that need to be seen on a big screen and make an audience feel like if they donât see it on the big screen, theyâll miss out⦠I think whatâs important is that filmmakers are ambitious and that they use the tools of cinema, surround sound, IMAX, and every fiber of their being to make big stories for big screens.âAnd while he pointed out that adult dramas, like his 1999 Oscar-winner American Beauty, are much less likely to get theatrical releases nowadays, he doesnât necessarily feel like thatâs a bad thing, because â..you have an incredible platform for those movies to be seen by millions of people on television screens. Big and wonderful television screens. I donât think, as a director of those movies, I would have been disappointed if Away We Go was seen in a two-week theatrical window and then on TVs.âTruly, Mendesâ ambitious World War I drama 1917 is a film that demands to be seen in the theater, so the guy knows what heâs talking about. For more about 1917, you can read Colliderâs review and watch our video interview with Mendes about the film.