Nolan Attacks Warner Bros., Calls HBO Max Worst Streaming Service
Representatives of the film industry, including Christopher Nolan, have been harshly attacking Warner Bros.'s decision to move many of its premieres into the streaming sector.
A few days ago, Warner Bros. announced that all key 2021 premieres under its wings (including Dune or Matrix 4) will appear simultaneously in cinemas and on the HBO Max platform. This decision may have fatal consequences for multiplexes, as they have been fighting for their lives for several months, and now they will still have to compete for audience with the aforementioned streaming platform.
The film world, which believes that December 3 2020 will go down in history as the day when cinema died, does not hide its dissatisfaction. Hollywood stars and filmmakers see no excuse for Warner's decision. It was strongly criticized by Christopher Nolan (via Hollywood Reporter), director of the Dark Knight trilogy, and the recent Tenet (which was supposed to save said cinemas):
“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. 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.”.
As you can see, Nolan's comment leaves no doubt as to his stance on Warner Bros. and HBO and you can sense a lot of fears about the future of the industry in his words. The director himself has never been known for views that would accept watching movies in any other place than an air-conditioned IMAX room, although this time he certainly doesn't mean the usual multiplex experience, but the dire crisis that affects cinema, which according to Nolan will only be deepened by WB.
