Tenet director Christopher Nolan blasts Warner Bros over 2021 streaming decision

Christopher Nolan has called Warner Bros dysfunctional over a decision to stream 2021 films as they’re released in cinema.

‘It’s not the way to do business and it’s not the best thing for the health of our industry’: Director Christopher Nolan. Picture: AP

Christopher Nolan has condemned Warner Bros as dysfunctional for its decision to release all its films for next year on a streaming service at the same time as in cinemas.

The British director, who has released all of his films of the past 18 years, including Tenet and Dunkirk, through the Hollywood studio believes that it has betrayed film-makers who wish to preserve cinema as the best place to see films.

“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important 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 told the Hollywood Reporter. “Warner Bros had an incredible machine for getting a film-maker’s work out everywhere, both in theatres and in the home, and they are dismantling it . . . 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.”

Warner Bros announced last week that it would change its business model so that cinemas no longer had an exclusive window in which to show its films. Instead its films will simultaneously appear on HBO Max, the streaming service operated by its parent company, Warner Media.

Directors who like their films to be shown on big screens argue that the theatrical window is vital to protect cinemas. Studios say that the pandemic means that it is the only sensible way to get people to see their films. The fight is a long-running one. In 2010 the Odeon chain threatened to boycott Disney’s Alice in Wonderland because the studio wished to shorten cinemas’ exclusive window from 17 to 12 weeks.

Nolan, asked by Entertainment Tonight how he responded to Warner Bros’ announcement, said: “Oh, I mean, disbelief. Especially the way in which they did [it]. There’s such controversy around it, because they didn’t tell anyone. In 2021 they’ve got some of the top film-makers 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 . . . And now they’re being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service - for the fledgling streaming service - without any consultation. It’s sort of not how you treat film-makers and stars and people who . . . have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.”

He said he believed that cinemas would bounce back in the long term and that they would still be profitable if they were allowed to continue. “What you have right now in our business is a lot of use of the pandemic as an excuse for sort of grappling for short-term advantage. And it’s really unfortunate.

“It’s not the way to do business and it’s not the best thing for the health of our industry. But when the theatres are back, when the vaccine has been rolled out . . . 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.”

The Times