Christopher Nolan is by all accounts a cinema purist. The director is never shy of expressing his hard-line views on matters such as art direction, sound, business, and what the entire movie experience means to him. Tom Shone’s book “The Nolan Variations” does a great job at exposing this given it’s a firsthand account on the director’s personal thoughts.
Recently, Nolan has voiced his concerns over the film industry’s current state, taking his latest movie Tenet as a prime example of what the box-office landscape could look like for future blockbusters. Though back then Nolan argued Tenet did just fine, that was before HBO Max and Warner announced their shocking streaming deal that’ll see all of the latter’s movies premiere simultaneously in cinemas and VOD
Naturally, Nolan had a few things to say about that topic, expressing during an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight that the deal in place did not take into consideration the opinions of the filmmakers and stars involved in the 17 movies affected by it. According to Nolan, all those projects “are meant to be big-screen experiences… And now they're being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service [HBO Max].”
Doubling down on his preference for art over business, Nolan ponders the has opted to seize a short-term opportunity that isn’t necessarily aligned with the industry’s best interest. Despite all that, he remains an optimist on the moviegoing experience coming back sooner rather than later, stating that once vaccines and government health policies become more effective he’ll be “very bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry”.
It’s hard to make something out of Nolan’s comments, as on one hand, it’s clear he will never budge on his absolute preference for the big screen cinema releases; yet, in Shone’s book he also admits being fine with people even watching his movies on their phones, as long as they were exhibited at a theater first. So technically, the HBO Max and Warner deal holds up to Nolan’s standards, even if he already managed to save Tenet from it.
As far as money goes, it’s still not clear just where Warner Bros. and HBO Max’s projected numbers currently stand. Tenet’s own experience suggests the overseas revenue can be counted on, so for Wonder Woman 1984 and subsequent films the North American box office could work as supplementary income to that generated from subscriptions, but that plan won’t be tested until this Christmas.
Source: Entertainment Tonight