‘DYSFUNCTION’

Christopher Nolan Is Extremely Pissed Off About Warner Bros.-HBO Max Plan

“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers... woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” Nolan said.

Christopher Nolan is mad as hell about Warner Bros. Pictures’ plan to debut all of its 2021 films in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time. “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,” the Tenet director, who’s had a long-standing relationship with Warner, told The Hollywood Reporter. “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 added. “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.”

The move was announced on Dec. 3—and reportedly met with intense backlash from many Hollywood insiders. Film distribution has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed most U.S. theaters. “Warners has made a grave mistake,” a talent agent told THR. “Never have this many people been this upset with one entity.”