Christopher Nolan Is PISSED About The HBO Max Decision By Warner Bros.
'“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 added: “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.”'
Bloody rotten, innit?
The decision by Warner Bros. came with a lot of collateral damage, and this specific reaction was an almost guaranteed side effect. WB and Nolan have had a great relationship over the years (They've worked together since all the way back to 'Insomnia'), and that all may be flushed down the toilet now. Is it worth losing a top 3 blockbuster director in the game just to save face on a lost year and gain market share in the streaming game? That's too big a decision for my brain to speculate, but it must have been worth it to the big wigs at Warner because that is a HUGE hit to their arsenal. Here is some perspective on his impact ICYWW
The landscape of movies is obviously changing because of COVID and the world is on a cruise missile strike path towards streaming, but this is a hard director to lose.
Other directors like James Gunn and Jon Chu, who are also affected by this rollout for 'The Suicide Squad' and 'In the Heights', are similarly pissed off as well. They may end up losing a lot of directors over this and they are definitely going to eat a ton of lawsuits, with 'Dune' and 'Godzilla Vs Kong' co-financier Legendary Pictures already gearing up to go to for their throats. Not to reiterate, but the question is really going to be one simple thing: Is it worth it?
Are that many people going to subscribe to HBO Max to watch 'Godzilla vs Kong' or 'Tom & Jerry'? Un-sarcastically, will they even gain that many for 'Dune'? I don't think this will put a significant enough dent in their market share war with the other streaming services to be worth the bridge burning, but thats why I'm not paid to make those decisions. Lets watch some clips:
