Christopher Nolan slams Warner Bros.' dual-release plan, calls HBO Max the "worst streaming...

[midian182]

A hot potato: Last week saw Warner Bros. announce the surprising decision to stream its 2021 releases through HBO Max on the same day they arrive in theaters. While it was certainly welcome news for those who've long preferred home comforts to a packed cinema, theater chains and much of Hollywood were far from happy. The latest big industry player to speak out is director Christopher Nolan, who has blasted HBO Max as the "worst streaming service."

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Nolan said, "some of our industry's biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service."

Nolan's relationship with Warner Bros. began in 2002 when he directed Insomnia. The company distributed some of the director's most successful projects, including The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. The pairing also produced Tenet, which got a theater release in September. The film made just $45 million before cinemas were closed again due to Covid-19, losing Warner Bros. up to $100 million.

Last month, Warner Bros. said that Wonder Woman 1984 would hit theaters and HBO Max on the same day, with no extra cost to subscribers. Using the same strategy for its entire 2021 slate means blockbusters such as The Matrix 4, The Suicide Squad, Mortal Kombat, and Dune will also receive simultaneous theater and streaming releases.

When it moved Wonder Woman 1984 to a dual release, Warner Bros. is reported to have heavily compensated all those involved to offset the money lost by not sticking with a traditional theater-only launch. But those who worked on the 2021 movies won't be getting the same generous deal. The Suicide Squad director James Gunn and Dune's Denis Villeneuve are especially angry at the decision to go with a dual-release, according to reports.

"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. 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, " Nolan added.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87882-christopher-nolan-slams-warner-bros-dual-release-plan.html

 

[Buhaj]

Nolan is a good director, I'm pretty sure Warner Bros. has other people better than him at counting money though.

 

[VitalyT]

Nolan is a good director

Judging by his latest creations - Tenet and Dunkirk, his best days are behind him now. Interstellar was the last good movie he made.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Nolan to Warner Bros: “Get off my lawn!”

Time to wake up and face the facts... the future is here - and movie theaters are dead...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Judging by his latest creations - Tenet and Dunkirk, his best days are behind him now. Interstellar was the last good movie he made.

TENET was awesome

 

[Burty117]

Gotta say, I like the idea of getting the movies on streaming services, I think they've missed some tricks here though and these movies will be pirated like crazy.

1. Proper Movie buffs will want the highest quality version of a movie, Blu-ray level quality, Warner Bros, open a website up that provides downloads to these for the same money a Blu-ray is and since there's no middle men or physical media, you'll make more money.

2. Charge a little bit of money for the movies on the streaming service, for the same period it's in the cinema's, charge like £5 for access to it during that time, then take the movie off when it leaves cinema's and put it back on down the road. You make more money and keeps new movies a premium without breaking anyone's bank (and still cheaper than going to the cinema)

3. Release it in native speaking countries at the same time, UK is a great example of somewhere you haven't thought about at all and will most likely get pirated a bunch because it gets hyped up here but then not released for purchase, why no one learnt from Games of Thrones is beyond me.

 

[psycros]

Movie theaters dead? LOL, get real. When the overblown COVID thing runs its course people will flock to theaters in numbers that haven't been seen in 15 years.

 

[DZillaXx]

Gotta say, I like the idea of getting the movies on streaming services, I think they've missed some tricks here though and these movies will be pirated like crazy.

1. Proper Movie buffs will want the highest quality version of a movie, Blu-ray level quality, Warner Bros, open a website up that provides downloads to these for the same money a Blu-ray is and since there's no middle men or physical media, you'll make more money.

2. Charge a little bit of money for the movies on the streaming service, for the same period it's in the cinema's, charge like £5 for access to it during that time, then take the movie off when it leaves cinema's and put it back on down the road. You make more money and keeps new movies a premium without breaking anyone's bank (and still cheaper than going to the cinema)

3. Release it in native speaking countries at the same time, UK is a great example of somewhere you haven't thought about at all and will most likely get pirated a bunch because it gets hyped up here but then not released for purchase, why no one learnt from Games of Thrones is beyond me.

History has shown that piracy has little effect on the overall number of sales. For those types of people that only private, they tend not to have the funds to see it in theaters in the first place. So regardless they would be waiting for it to become available for piracy.

But too many Theaters suffer from poor ownership, allowing movies to be shown on projectors with dim blubs with many hours on them. Buying used projector bulbs as replacements to keep costs down.

Half of the movies in theaters are crap. Most theaters could have half the number of theater rooms. Where only the best and highest budget movies are shown. Everything else should come to a streaming service for renting. I'd have no problem renting new movies from amazon day one.

 

[Gollum22]

3. Release it in native speaking countries at the same time, UK is a great example of somewhere you haven't thought about at all and will most likely get pirated a bunch because it gets hyped up here but then not released for purchase, why no one learnt from Games of Thrones is beyond me.

You assume rational thinking first of all.

 

[fps4ever]

I'd serioulsy would like to hear an explanation for his statement. Only thing I can think of is offering it on more streaming services because COVID has theaters shut down in a lot of places and probably for the next few months.

"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. 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, " Nolan added.

 

[wiyosaya]

But too many Theaters suffer from poor ownership, allowing movies to be shown on projectors with dim blubs with many hours on them. Buying used projector bulbs as replacements to keep costs down.

It is more like inadequately trained projectionists that have no clue as to the fact that they can set the brightness higher, and thus fail to do so. Or that theaters have nothing to actually calibrate their projectors so that the best possible picture quality is obtained on each showing of any movie. As I understand it, this is a big part of the reason that 3D was so miserably dim in most, if not all, theaters.

Half of the movies in theaters are crap. Most theaters could have half the number of theater rooms. Where only the best and highest budget movies are shown. Everything else should come to a streaming service for renting. I'd have no problem renting new movies from amazon day one.

For me, part of the dismal theater experience is the noise from others in the audience. Especially parents taking their children who cannot sit still. I would much rather wait until a movie that I want to see comes to Blu-Ray and then I borrow it from my local library than pay $30 for the wife and I for a crappy theater experience.

EDIT: IMO, Nolan is acting like a spoiled brat. For too long, movie studios have been treating him like he is a God, much like they treat JJ Abrams.

 

[rxs2222]

Theaters are thing of the past, streaming is the present, VR is the future, body implants are the future, space colonization is the future, Nolan is the past and yes, France saved your *** at Dunkirk,18000 died there, but this always angry Brit changed the history once more.

 

[mbrowne5061]

TENET was awesome

I wish you could say the same for its sound track. Ditto for Dunkirk. Nolan should probably get his hearing checked, no joke, make sure he isn't going hard of hearing in certain ranges.

 

[Gomos]

And he is the worst director. His films are 3 hours trailers, absolute garbage.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I wish you could say the same for its sound track. Ditto for Dunkirk. Nolan should probably get his hearing checked, no joke, make sure he isn't going hard of hearing in certain ranges.

I liked TENET's soundtrack.

 

[mgwerner]

Many of us with disposable income do not want to sit in a theater and have to be distracted by a$$hats and their phones. Nolan should place the blame where it lies - with the social media generation who must worship themselves at every waking moment, to the detriment of their own, and everyone else's quality of life.

 

[duckofdeath]

TENET was awesome

I am pretty sure you were successfully trlld....
Tenet was indeed awesome. Sure, a bit too many sound and visual quality issues. But, that's kind of a Nolan trademark.

 

[brucek]

I saw a critic reply that HBO Max has probably the strongest movie library, and either the top or second best TV library (Hulu being the other contender.)

He's probably right, but as someone who has them all, I find I rarely bring up HBO Max. They may have the goods under the hood but I think they are bad at surfacing them. Whereas whenever I go to Netflix they make it easy to find something that looks interesting.

 

[EClyde]

Does it matter? Most "entertainment" is stereotypical trash anyhow. eg. What just happened?

 

[Endymio]

Judging by his latest creations - Tenet and Dunkirk, his best days are behind him now. Interstellar was the last good movie he made.

For the man who made Memento and Inception, I'll give him far more than two bad movies before writing him off.

 

[p51d007]

Movie theaters dead? LOL, get real. When the overblown COVID thing runs its course...

You think the corona virus will be over after the "vaccine" goes global? Nope...this is the first
step in destroying everything.

 

[Squid Surprise]

For the man who made Memento and Inception, I'll give him far more than two bad movies before writing him off.

and the 3 Batman movies he made

 

[Reehahs]

Gotta say, I like the idea of getting the movies on streaming services, I think they've missed some tricks here though and these movies will be pirated like crazy.

1. Proper Movie buffs will want the highest quality version of a movie, Blu-ray level quality, Warner Bros, open a website up that provides downloads to these for the same money a Blu-ray is and since there's no middle men or physical media, you'll make more money.

2. Charge a little bit of money for the movies on the streaming service, for the same period it's in the cinema's, charge like £5 for access to it during that time, then take the movie off when it leaves cinema's and put it back on down the road. You make more money and keeps new movies a premium without breaking anyone's bank (and still cheaper than going to the cinema)

3. Release it in native speaking countries at the same time, UK is a great example of somewhere you haven't thought about at all and will most likely get pirated a bunch because it gets hyped up here but then not released for purchase, why no one learnt from Games of Thrones is beyond me.

Last point doesn't have to be limited to native countries. Movies ought to be released worldwide, fans are all over the world and locals are good adapting with sub titles etc.

 

[Burty117]

Last point doesn't have to be limited to native countries. Movies ought to be released worldwide, fans are all over the world and locals are good adapting with sub titles etc.

Oh I know for sure, these companies are slow to do anything though so I was thinking baby steps but yeah, worldwide wouldn't exactly be hard either!

 

[Reehahs]

Oh I know for sure, these companies are slow to do anything though so I was thinking baby steps but yeah, worldwide wouldn't exactly be hard either!

It is one of the only way to beat pirates.

Make it easy to access content and make it reasonably priced, consumers will come.

Crunchyroll used to illegally stream anime after it being broadcast in Japan. They went legal and brought simulcast streaming for a subscription, a majority of people who could afford signed up.