Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan has spoken out against Warner Bros’s decision to debut its 2021 film slate on HBO Max and in theaters, saying the plan to release them on the ‘worst streaming service’ ‘makes no economic sense.
In a rather shocking move announced last week, Warner Bros confirmed their upcoming films will be released simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming service as a ‘temporary solution’ for the industry that has been struggling amid the pandemic.
Nolan, whose thriller ‘Tenet’ was released by the studio earlier this year, blasted the decision this week, saying the work of top talent was being used ‘as a loss leader for a fledgling streaming service.’
‘There’s such controversy around it, because they didn’t tell anyone,’ Nolan told TV show Entertainment Tonight in an interview released on Monday.
‘I’ve never seen everybody so upset about one particular decision,’ Nolan said.
Christopher Nolan, one of Warner Bros’ most important filmmakers, has come out strongly against the company´s decision to debut its films on HBO Max and in theaters in 2021
The director released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, where he called HBO Max ‘the worst streaming service’, and said the move ‘made no economic sense’
Warner Bros’s announcement means that all 17 of its 2021 movie releases including hotly-anticipated blockbusters Matrix 4 and The Suicide Squad will be available to subscribers on AT&T’s video streaming service to view at no extra cost
In a separate statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan also blasted HBO Max, calling it ‘the worst streaming service’.
It comes after Warner Bros had first sent shockwaves across Hollywood last month when it announced it would release ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ on HBO Max in December, along with a concurrent theatrical run.
The latest announcement means that all 17 of its 2021 movie releases including hotly-anticipated blockbusters Matrix 4 and The Suicide Squad will be available to subscribers on AT&T’s video streaming service to view at no extra cost.
HBO Max is a relatively new entrant in the online video streaming service, having been launched by AT&T back in May.
A subscription costs $14.99 a month and there will be no additional charge for the movies for subscribers, a Warner Bros. spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Shares of AT&T – which owns both Warner Bros and HBO Max – rose .24 percent off the back of the news last Thursday and closed up .48 percent. Meanwhile shares in cinema chain AMC plummeted 15.97 per cent by the closing bell.
Tenet: Nolan has long been a proponent of the theatrical experience, with his film Tenet one of the few major studio films to get a wide release amid the COVID-19 pandemic
AMC Theaters chief Adam Aron condemned the move last week, but no in-house filmmaker has spoken out on the record until Nolan
Studio executives said it’s a one-year plan to push its new movies out to market while the vast majority of US theaters continue to keep their doors closed due to the pandemic.
But the move could cripple the already-struggling cinema industry following years of dwindling ticket sales and a failure to compete with online streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
‘Given the unprecedented time that we’re in, we needed a creative solution to address our fans, our filmmakers and our exhibitors, said Ann Sarnoff, chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios, in an interview. ‘Big and bold is a necessity right now.’
Sarnoff called it a ‘temporary solution’ and a ‘one-year plan.’ The studio said other options – releasing big-budget films solely in reduced capacity theaters or delaying films another year – weren’t appealing.
AMC Theaters chief Adam Aron condemned the move last week, but no in-house filmmaker had spoken out on the record until Nolan, one of the studio´s marquee names.
Nolan has worked with Warner Bros on every film since 2002’s ‘Insomnia’ in a profitable and critically acclaimed run that’s included ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, ‘Inception’ and ‘Dunkirk.’
He has long been a proponent of the theatrical experience, with his film Tenet one of the few major studio films to get a wide release amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the film struggled at the domestic box office ($57.6million), with several major markets still closed and many theaters elsewhere operating at limited capacity, it still fared well internationally, for a global total of $359.9 million.
Timothee Chalamet, left, and Rebecca Ferguson in a scene from the upcoming 2021 film ‘Dune’
A scene from the upcoming film ‘In the Heights’. Warner Bros. announced last week that all 17 of its 2021 movie releases will be available to subscribers on AT&T’s video streaming service to view at no extra cost
Warner Bros.’ 2021 slate includes many of the expected top movies of the year, including Space Jam: A New Legacy (above)
‘Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak,’ he told the Hollywood Reporter.
Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, said it is only a one-year plan for during the pandemic
‘They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.’
‘It’s not right. And it’s not a good business decision,’ Nolan added. ‘It’s all a bit of a mess.’
The filmmaker spoke with Entertainment Tonight‘s John David Washington, to promote the December 15 digital release of Tenet, where the usually-diplomatic filmmaker called the move, ‘very, very, very, very messy.’
When asked what his reaction to the move from Warner Bros., the studio that has distributed or co-distributed his last eight films, Nolan pulled no punches.
‘Oh, I mean, disbelief. Especially the way in which they did,’ Nolan began.
‘In 2021, they’ve got some of the top filmmakers in the world, they’ve got some of the biggest stars in the world who worked for years in some cases on these projects very close to their hearts that are meant to be big-screen experiences,’ Nolan added.
‘They’re meant to be out there for the widest possible audiences… And now they’re being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service – for the fledgling streaming service – without any consultation. So, there’s a lot of controversy. It’s very, very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch,’ the director said.
He added that this move was, ‘sort of not how you treat filmmakers and stars and people who, these guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.’
Tenet’s release was considerably challenging given the restrictions due to COVID-19, though Nolan was encouraged that ‘people came back in great numbers’ in areas where the virus was more under control.
He added it was a ‘source of frustration’ to not be able to travel the world and attend premieres around the world, but the filmmaker still realizes how lucky he really is.
‘But at the end of the day, 2020 has been a year of tremendous adversity for everybody on the planet, so we feel very lucky — I feel very lucky — to have been working and to have been engaged in a creative pursuit. I think it’s been a really fortunate thing for myself,’ he said.
When asked about the ‘long-term repercussions’ of Warner Bros’ seismic shift to HBO Max, Nolan insisted theaters as a whole will bounce back.
‘Long-term, I think all of the studios know that the movie theater experience will bounce back and be a very important part of the ecosystem long-term. What you have right now in our business is a lot of the use of the pandemic as an excuse for sort of grappling for short-term advantage. And it’s really unfortunate,’ he said.
‘It’s not the way to do business and it’s not the best thing for the health of our industry,’ Nolan added.
‘But when the theaters are back and people are going back to the movies, when the vaccine has been rolled out and there’s an appropriate health response from the federal government, I’m very bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry. People love going to the movies and they’re going to get to go again,’ Nolan said.