Christopher Nolan lambasts Warner Bros' simultaneous release deal with HBO Max
Dec 08, 2020
Washington [US], December 8 : Director Christopher Nolan on Monday (local time) condemned his
film studio Warner Bros' "radical decision" to release its entire film slate of 2021 simultaneously in theatres and on the "struggling" streaming platform, HBO Max.
In a move, which may have damaged their relationship with their most valuable director, Warner Bros studio on December 3 had announced that its 2021 movies will be released in theatres and on the streaming platform on the same day, rather than the customary months-long wait.
According to
, the
director, who has released all his films with Warner Bros since his 2002 release
, blasted the production house in a statement to
on Monday: "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."
The 50-year-old Memento director, during, an interview to
the same day, said, "...in 2021, they've (Warner Bros) 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."
"Warner Bros had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker's work out everywhere, both in theatres and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak," said Nolan, adding 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."
For the longest time, Nolan has been an advocate for the theatrical experience of films. His latest movie
starring John David Washington and Robert Pattison, released in theatres over the weekend after various delays due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but was not as successful as speculated, with theatres still remaining closed in several major markets across the globe.
