Road House premiere: First reactions praise “brutal” fights, Conor McGregor’s scene chewing

The first reactions to Road House have arrived out of its premiere at this year’s SXSW, with some surprise praise that seems to highlight to a missed opportunity for Amazon to release it in theaters. Ahead of its streaming debut later this month, all signs point to Road House being just the sort of flick that has to be watched with a crowd, while a number of attendees noted that Jake Gyllenhaal is not to be messed with and Conor McGregor is a genuine scene-stealing presence.

Check out the initial Road House reactions via X below:

This modern Road House twist — Gyllenhaal is a former UFC fighter, compared to Patrick Swayze’s bouncer, for one — has been the subject of much discussion and behind-the-scenes controversy as of late, with topics ranging from everything from the use of artificial intelligence to its disputed release strategy. Somewhere in between, the writer of the original Road House, R. Lance Hill, has claimed the filmmakers are guilty of copyright infringement on his screenplay. (Hill went credited as David Lee Henry on 1989’s Road House.)

The release of Road House outside of its SXSW screening has launched some discourse from some of the movie’s key players: director Doug Liman and star Jake Gyllenhaal. Liman originally announced that he would be boycotting the movie’s premiere over Amazon’s alleged shifting of the film’s release from a theatrical one to streaming only. On this, Liam said, “The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.” However, it was reported that Liman did in fact attend Road House’s premiere, although he did not actively participate in any promotion, leaving that to the cast. Regardless of Liman’s official stance, Gyllenhaal maintains that the movie was always headed towards a streaming release. As such, Road House will kick its way to Amazon Prime Video in less than two weeks on March 21st.

How does the reception of Road House fresh out of SXSW change your anticipation for the movie? Do you wish it had gotten a theatrical release? Let us know!

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