"I love television ... but there's nothing like going to a big, dark theater and having the experience wash over you," he told an audience at this weekend's Cinema Audio Society Awards. "I'm a firm believer that movie theaters need to be around forever."
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The comments come as Roma marches toward Oscar Sunday as a Best Picture frontrunner. The film is the first produced by Netflix ever to enter the coveted category.
SEE ALSO: Everything to know about Roma, which could become the first foreign-language Best Picture
Though it is available on Netflix, the film did have a limited release in theaters. Netflix has not released official box-office numbers, so it's unknown exactly how many people saw the film in theaters.
This is not the first time prolific filmmaker Spielberg has spoken out against awarding streaming-service movies as cinema. Last March, he told ITV News that he thinks such films should be recognized with Emmys, not Oscars.
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"I don't believe that films that are given token qualifications in a couple of theaters for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination," he said. "Once you commit to a television format, you're a TV movie."
Among the multitude of qualifications to be considered for the Oscars, a film must run in a commercial movie theater in Los Angeles County for at least a week.
Spielberg, who has won three competitive Oscars and racked up many more nominations, is not nominated for an award himself this year. A film he directed, Ready Player One, is up for Best Visual Effects.
RELATED: Everything to know about Oscars 2019
Don't miss the Oscars LIVE on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET | 5 p.m. PT on ABC.