Leonardo DiCaprio questions if ‘people still have appetite’ for the cinema amid rise of streaming after his critically lauded film One Battle After Another failed to break even at box office

Leonardo DiCaprio has expressed his concerns that cinema-going is steadily falling out of favour, with audiences increasingly choosing to watch films on streaming platforms instead.

The Hollywood heavyweight, 51, has starred in some of the biggest and most acclaimed movies in his career, and is widely expected to pick-up yet another Oscar nomination later this month, for One Battle After Another.

However, despite the Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller winning rave reviews and hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ by critics, when it came to the box office, it received a much more lukewarm reception.

While it took in an impressive $204.7 million globally, according to Variety the film needed to make around $300 million in order to breakeven, due to its staggeringly high budget – reportedly $175 million – and significant marketing costs.

In a new interview alongside director Paul, Leo addressed the fading popularity of cinemas, questioning if there was even an ‘appetite’ for seeing films on the big screen with the advent of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Speaking to The Sunday Times about the shifting landscape of movies, he said: ‘It’s changing at a lightning speed. We’re looking at a huge transition. First, documentaries disappeared from cinemas. Now, dramas only get finite time and people wait to see it on streamers. I don’t know.’

Shaking his head, he continued: ‘Do people still have the appetite? Or will cinemas become silos — like jazz bars?’

Contributing to the Titanic star’s fears about the cinema industry is Netflix’s recent bid for Warner Bros. Discovery – the studio behind One Battle After Another.

Last month, the streaming platform made an $82.7 billion move to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios, its HBO and HBO Max streaming businesses and its vast content library.

Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos has pointed to declining box office takings as evidence that people prefer to watch films at home and that the whole idea of making films to watch in theatres as a communal experience is an ‘outmoded idea for most people’.

Opponents of the deal – who include film fans, movie-makers and cinema owners – say a struggling Hollywood’s malaise will get even worse if Netflix’s algorithm-loving, cost-cutting and risk-averse bosses get their hands on the studio.

And Leo and Paul are among those concerned, with the There Will Be Blood director describing the drive to bring audiences to streaming platforms instead of cinemas as ‘hand-to-hand combat’.

While Leo expressed his wish that filmmakers would get the chance to continue creating movies for the cinema screen, but confessed he was doubtful to whether that would be the case.

He said: ‘I just hope enough people, who are real visionaries, get opportunities to do unique things in the future that are seen in the cinema. But that remains to be seen.’

The Wolf of Wall Street star recently admitted himself that he thinks box-office numbers will always be ‘important.’

He said: ‘I think there’s just an inundation of content and so much production going on now – which is a good thing, obviously.

‘But I think box office is important because it means people are in the seats going to theatre, going to have that communal experience.’

Despite its box office struggles, One Battle After Another has been lauded with five-star reviews across the board from critics – and it’s even been deemed ‘the defining film of a generation’ by some. 

A politically charged action-thriller based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, it has emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2025, winning praise from the likes of Steven Spielberg and Taylor Swift.

The movie is a politically charged action-thriller based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland.

It sees Leo playing Bob Ferguson, a former member of a far-left revolutionary group who now lives in a state of stoned paranoia off the grid with his daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti.

When Willa goes missing, Ferguson must reunite with his former comrades to take on an evil cabal of white supremacists. 

The star-studded cast also boasts the likes of megastars Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor.

Leo’s latest comments about the threat to cinema-going come after he recently shared his fears over AI creeping into Hollywood.

Last month, the Oscar winner – who was named Entertainer of the Year by TIME magazine – declared ‘there’s no humanity’ in the use of AI in the arts.

He told the publication: ‘I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being.’

Leonardo referenced recent AI clips of famous late stars doing covers of popular songs as he admitted that they are ‘cool’ to watch once.

But he said they soon vanish with the rest of the ‘internet junk’ after the trend has died and people’s attention has moved on to the next thing. 

‘There’s no anchoring to it,’ he added of AI art. ‘There’s no humanity to it, as brilliant as it is.’