Christopher Nolan Boo-Hoo’s WB Hybrid Release Strategy

[hanselthecaretaker]

Christopher Nolan to Part Ways with Warner Bros. After ‘Tenet’ Issues and HBO Max Deal?

The surprise decision by Warner Bros. to release all of their upcoming 2021 movies in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously did not sit well with Christopher Nolan.

movieweb.com

Fine. Whatever. He’s a diva and Tenet wasn’t good enough to warrant a theater viewing anyways. Especially since most people would need to be rewinding it a few times just to try and make sense of it.

I’ll be looking forward to watching MK on HBO Max from my sofa with a drink in the comfort of my home theater. And rewinding the good parts for kicks, because yeah.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Weeeeeeelllll, I've no strong feelings one way or another... he'll be fiiiiiiine. WB will still be bumbling along. Nothing of consequence to fear. Unless his next film is gonna be a strained metaphor for being denied Cinema releases by a supervillain called William Birkin spreading some kind of bioweapon virus attack, winky winky nudge nudge

 

[BrawlMan]

Christopher Nolan to Part Ways with Warner Bros. After ‘Tenet’ Issues and HBO Max Deal?

The surprise decision by Warner Bros. to release all of their upcoming 2021 movies in theaters and HBO Max simultaneously did not sit well with Christopher Nolan.

movieweb.com

Fine. Whatever. He’s a diva and Tenet wasn’t good enough to warrant a theater viewing anyways. Especially since most people would need to be rewinding it a few times just to try and make sense of it.

I’ll be looking forward to watching MK on HBO Max from my sofa with a drink in the comfort of my home theater. And rewinding the good parts for kicks, because yeah.

I actually like Tenet. It's one of the few Nolan films I enjoy. Dude will be fine. I wish him the best of luck.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I actually like Tenet. It's one of the few Nolan films I enjoy. Dude will be fine. I wish him the best of luck.

Oh of course he will and so will WB. But it just seems like an extreme reaction to have, when there are many areas like my own that still have closed theaters and HBO is the take it or leave it option. I get they’re creators and like to show off their work on a big screen/sound setup, but would they rather people didn’t see it at all?

He should also keep in mind there is a good portion of movie goers who also have decent home theaters. Perspective is relative anyways. If you’re sitting in the back of a theater, how big does the screen really look compared to a home projector where you’re within 12 feet or so of a 100” screen? Also think of the distractions you often have in theaters that take away the viewer’s focus from what the director wants them to see and hear.

It’s really not as bad as they make it seem. Also, it’s not that I don’t find Tenet interesting or engaging, but personally I don’t see getting more out of it at the theater. The Dark Knight, Inception, or Interstellar however...

 

[Bob_McMillan]

From the very limited knowledge I have of the situation, I don't think Nolan is wrong to be upset about this. That said, he is most definitely a diva. I wonder what company he'll go to.

 

[Dalisclock]

I mean, I guess. It sucks that theaters are hurting because of the pandemic but considering much of the world has it running unchecked, even if theaters were open most people won't risk their health to go sit in the theater for 2+ hours to see films right now. Assuming they have the spare cash(which a lot of people won't because unemployment and such) for a ticket or 4 and overpriced popcorn.

I mean, nobody is really having a good time right now, Chris. We're all making sacrifices because of this shit(that's not even getting into people who have lost friends and loved ones). It's hard for me to really feel bad for you in particular right now.

 

[BrawlMan]

I mean, nobody is really having a good time right now, Chris. We're all making sacrifices because of this shit. It's hard for me to really feel bad for you in particular right now.

Nolan is suffering the all about me attitude. A problem this past couple of years. People prefer living than risking their lives for a movie. Get your head out of your ass Nolan!

 

[Gordon_4]

Chris I get that you're passionate about film and cinema and you're feeling your hard work is not getting its best presentation and you feel ripped off. I get it dude, and so do most of us on a surface level.

But chum you still have a job and I'm thinking probably enough money to have spent the last year or so knocking back Singapore Slings while hookers knock your sling back. Many hundreds of thousands are not so lucky, so maybe count your blessings and keep your head down for a few more months.

 

[09philj]

If people are going to use their wallets to vote against the deeply terrible multiplex cinema industry, more power to them. The experience of being wedged into an uncomfortable flip up seat sandwiched between rows of badly behaved patrons and seeing a film on a screen that's not all that big and probably partly blocked by someone's head because I'm only 5'4" is not one I'm happy paying £8 to £10 for as a matter of routine.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

If Nolan feels that the small screen isn't doing all those rich greys and browns that make up most of his movies justice, he can very well turn his back on Warner Bros. I'd respect his acknowledgement that overwhelming viewers with the sensory overload only a theater can afford him is all his movies have going for them, but considering Tenet was a critical and commercial dissapointment, despite releasing in that short period of time where it looked like the worst of the pandemic was over, I find it unlikely it's going to make his films more popular. I've seen Tenet and it a very clear evolution of where his style seemed to be going since Inception. Complicated, but shallow, both emotionally and thematically. He has dissapeared deep up his own arse and as of yet failed to bring back anything worthwhile.

 

[Dalisclock]

Apparently Denis Villeneuve, who is making the new Dune movie, is also pissed. And I can get that a little more then Nolan(not much, but a little) considering Dune is already gonna be a hard sell out of the gate and not being in theaters is gonna hurt. Of course, what's really gonna suck is that he's filming Dune in two parts, but part 2 apparently isn't gonna happen if Part 1 isn't a hit, so there's a better then average chance we'll get like half the first book and then, well, the movie just didn't do well.

Dune director Denis Villeneuve blasts AT&T and Warner Bros. for ‘hijacking’ films

The original plan was to delay Dune to October 2021, he reveals

www.theverge.com

With that out of the way, I'm still not sitting in a theater for 2 hours to see anything until the pandemic has subsided or my family and myself have been vaccinated. Even if Dune is a masterpiece, it's not worth it right now. I've seen people comment(on youtube, so take that with however much salt needed) that all Dune fans should see the movie like 10x times to make sure it gets a part 2 and all I can say is "Good luck with that".

 

[happyninja42]

Eh, I agree in theory with the complaint about theater release versus home release, and how it can impact a film's financial and critical success. But I don't have any sympathy if he's complaining about releasing it during a plague. If his stance was along the lines of "I want the film to be released in theaters, and I'm willing to wait until it's actually SAFE for people to go see it in theaters, before I release it, but AT&T and WB are shafting me and releasing it anyway" I'd be 100% behind him. But since his stance is "Eh, fuck Covid, go see my movie anyway, it's High Art, oh no, AT&T and WB are shafting me and releasing it in a format I don't want" ....yeah I have less sympathy for his situation. Granted, he's not the only one financially impacted by that choice, but he's definitely the most vocal about it. You don't hear the Crew Union, for example, complaining about lack of release dates in theaters and what not.

 

[Agema]

Yes, I am pretty sure they think the experience is "wasted" if you don't see it on imax. This is a distinctly first world problem that at it its core shows how disconnected movie makers can be from the real world. For Nolan his movies are his children and each is a piece of his grander vision taken from vague dream to being a big budget blockbuster. Hundreds of people have been employed to take his vision from something in his head to being a movie that anyone can experience. He and his crew have spent thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of man hours editing this film to make it a spectacle worth watching. To him it is not a "movie", it is a labor of love and sacrifice that he wants you to not just "see" but to actively experience and engage with at the most visceral level possible. That means you need to have a huge screen and a massive sound system to deliver every nuance of this movie to you. To not do so and watch it on your decade old 32" with built in speakers is to simply not take his passion and toil seriously.

I think the quick way of saying this is that Christopher Nolan thinks of himself as an artist, not a tradesman.

There's plenty of room for that attitude - although as you say, it's not necessarily one that must be gratified with huge sums of other people's money.

 

[happyninja42]

I think the quick way of saying this is that Christopher Nolan thinks of himself as an artist, not a tradesman.

There's plenty of room for that attitude - although as you say, it's not necessarily one that must be gratified with huge sums of other people's money.

I mean I can't really disagree with the idea that some movies, by design, are best experienced in a big theater. That having that isolation from outside distractions, the surround sound, a massive screen that makes your entire field of view be the film, REALLY helps you become engrossed in the film. I don't think I'd love the first Mortal Kombat movie anywhere near as much, if I hadn't been in a dark theater, when that music track screamed out MORTAAAAL KOMBAAAAAT! in a booming surround system, followed by that title crawl of the emblem being lit up with flames the size of a 2 story building. I don't think Return of the Jedi would've branded my brain as a child, if I hadn't been in a theater, with a bajillion SW fans that were all wondering what was going to happen when Luke leapt off the gangplank over the sarlac pit. we all KNEW he had a plan, but we didnt' know how it would play out. How the crowd lost their fucking mind as the musical score swelled up triumphantly as Luke ignites his saber for the first time, and proceeds to Save the Day. How I'd never seen tha tmany people react so strongly to something in a movie before. How seeing The Fountain in that quiet, empty theater, made me feel like I was also floating in space with Hugh Jackman's character, and how the music and imagery, wove this intimate, yet tragic tale of grief and loss, but also beauty.
All those little moments, and hundreds more like them, just wouldn't have the same impact, if I'm on my couch, and my cat is constantly jumping up in front of the screen, so I have to shoo her away, getting annoyed, getting distracted. Stopping to rewind because I missed something from that cat interruption. The buzz of the laundry in the other room going off, killing the mood, etc.

So yeah, I GET Nolan's opinion of how his work should be viewed. It's an entirely different thing. And I can appreciate on some level, his frustration. He loses my support, when he ignores things like a global fucking plague.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

If Nolan was objecting to screwy contract that basically now seeing steaming not cinematic releases are screwing people out of money I could get it.

The idea of films only being designed or only being worth seeing in the Cinema is crap. Once they leave cinemas it's rare they return and so the approach should be about making it them worthwhile and last and stand the test of time and be decent on TVs too.

Yes some people will go all out and get home cinema set ups and they can make things better. However plenty of films will just end up on TV and they should be show somewhat with that in mind too.

If a film really is good enough then people will likely want to see it in Cinema and cinemas should have some older stuff cycle back through. I mean Terminator 2 was grossing $1 Million+ a week (or so I heard) when it was being reshown in the middle of a pandemic. Good films that are well made are good on TV but enhanced by Cinema thanks to the potential to show scale and things. However Cinemas are an enhancement to films they shouldn't be seen as the thing to aim for and damn everything else. Some films work better at home I think and if it's well made you can still be engrossed by a film at home.

The only film I've ever seen where I'd say cinema was the "TRUE" was to ever see it was Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Were Rabbit because a full cinema of people all ages laughing just made it so much more. Funnier still when you'd got to witness goths in full make up laughing wildly in such an out of stereotype move.

 

[twistedmic]

I mean I can't really disagree with the idea that some movies, by design, are best experienced in a big theater. That having that isolation from outside distractions, the surround sound, a massive screen that makes your entire field of view be the film, REALLY helps you become engrossed in the film. I don't think I'd love the first Mortal Kombat movie anywhere near as much, if I hadn't been in a dark theater, when that music track screamed out MORTAAAAL KOMBAAAAAT! in a booming surround system, followed by that title crawl of the emblem being lit up with flames the size of a 2 story building. I don't think Return of the Jedi would've branded my brain as a child, if I hadn't been in a theater, with a bajillion SW fans that were all wondering what was going to happen when Luke leapt off the gangplank over the sarlac pit. we all KNEW he had a plan, but we didnt' know how it would play out. How the crowd lost their fucking mind as the musical score swelled up triumphantly as Luke ignites his saber for the first time, and proceeds to Save the Day. How I'd never seen tha tmany people react so strongly to something in a movie before. How seeing The Fountain in that quiet, empty theater, made me feel like I was also floating in space with Hugh Jackman's character, and how the music and imagery, wove this intimate, yet tragic tale of grief and loss, but also beauty.
All those little moments, and hundreds more like them, just wouldn't have the same impact, if I'm on my couch, and my cat is constantly jumping up in front of the screen, so I have to shoo her away, getting annoyed, getting distracted. Stopping to rewind because I missed something from that cat interruption. The buzz of the laundry in the other room going off, killing the mood, etc.

So yeah, I GET Nolan's opinion of how his work should be viewed. It's an entirely different thing. And I can appreciate on some level, his frustration. He loses my support, when he ignores things like a global fucking plague.

I know what you mean about seeing some movies in theaters, especially in IMAX. Seeing Godzilla step into frame in the 2014 movie is cool when watch on a phone or TV screen, but it's an entirely different experience in IMAX. The arrival of the Galaxy Fleet in The Rise of Skywalker was absolutely amazing on that giant screen, far moreso than if I had first seen it on the 55' TV in my living room or the 32' TV in my bedroom.

 

[happyninja42]

I know what you mean about seeing some movies in theaters, especially in IMAX. Seeing Godzilla step into frame in the 2014 movie is cool when watch on a phone or TV screen, but it's an entirely different experience in IMAX. The arrival of the Galaxy Fleet in The Rise of Skywalker was absolutely amazing on that giant screen, far moreso than if I had first seen it on the 55' TV in my living room or the 32' TV in my bedroom.

Yeah, which is why I get the spirit of Nolan's gripe. But the reality is it's a risk to the public, so, it needs to wait (which I'm personally fine with), or just suck it up and accept it's going to streaming.

 

[McElroy]

What do you guys think of this LImited time availabilty in the streaming service? Seems dumb as hell, as it makes the unlicensed option the better service once again after that limited time is over.

 

[Gordon_4]

What do you guys think of this LImited time availabilty in the streaming service? Seems dumb as hell, as it makes the unlicensed option the better service once again after that limited time is over.

Depends, the limited time might just be the gap between the streaming availability and the blu-ray availability. If that’s the case, there’s no hassle because once the streaming time is up, if you really thought the movie was awesome you’ll be ordering the physical copy to keep anyway.

If it’s anything else, well, at this point I’m resigned to greedy entitled assholes - on both ends of the fence - acting out as they normally do.