Christopher Nolan Tears Into HBO Max As “Worst Streaming Service”, Rips WB For 2021 Release Plan

Perhaps WarnerMedia should’ve consulted some of their partners before the game-changing decision to release all 2021 WB films on HBO Max and in theaters? We’ve already seen that Legendary Pictures may threaten legal action over the move since they co-produced Godzilla vs. Kong and Dune. Now, the filmmaker we’ve all wanted to hear from most, Christopher Nolan, has spoken up and he’s definitely not happy.

Nolan, who is so committed to the theatrical experience that he released Tenet in the middle of a box office-killing pandemic, gave a statement to THR in which he calls HBO Max the “worst streaming service.”  Ouch.

“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.”

“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,” he continued. “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.”

Continuing on an interview with ET Online, Nolan also argues that WB should’ve talked to the people they work with most before committing to something like this…

“There’s such controversy around it, because they didn’t tell anyone. It’s very, very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch. Yeah, it’s sort of not how you treat filmmakers and stars and people who, these guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.”

Maybe committing to the entirety of 2021 was a mistake by WarnerMedia. Perhaps taking a quarterly or even project-by-project approach would’ve been more prudent so as not to overturn so much at once.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.