Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer

I don’t know, didn’t they kind of bend over backwards to accommodate him when it came to putting Tenet out when they did?

I thought it was the HBO Max day-and-date business that soured him and that was on the behalf of just about everyone but him.

If I recall, even after all the drama they were still in the mix for Oppenheimer but passed on it.
 
If I recall, even after all the drama they were still in the mix for Oppenheimer but passed on it.
Exactly.

Also this whole "Nolan pressured the studio for Tenet's release date" has been pretty much disproved. He himself said that it was WB that ultimately chose to let the film come out when it did. Something that is kind of obvious by Wonder Woman as well, a film that got similarly delayed each month, that the studio was constantly pushing for its release and that ultimately made it to cinemas at the peak of covid.

I agree though that it was the day-and-date release format that made him shop Oppenheimer to other studios. But he never actually left WB, he just considered more buyers and it was Universal that gave him more.
 
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Exactly.

Also this whole "Nolan pressured the studio for Tenet's release date" has been pretty much disproved. He himself said that it was WB that ultimately chose to let the film come out when it did. Something that is kind of obvious by Wonder Woman as well, a film that got similarly delayed each month, that the studio was constantly pushing for its release and that ultimately made it to cinemas at the peak of covid.

I agree though that it was the day-and-date release format that made him shop Oppenheimer to other studios. But he never actually left WB, he just considered more buyers and it was Universal that gave him more.

That's exactly my understanding of the situation as well. I think what a lot people missed in all of that was that Nolan was fine with delaying Tenet to 2021 or whenever theaters were fully reopened. It was WB that gave him either a limited release or straight to streaming as his two options. He went with the better of two bad options, but it was clearly far from ideal as major markets in the US had yet to re-open.
 
That's exactly my understanding of the situation as well. I think what a lot people missed in all of that was that Nolan was fine with delaying Tenet to 2021 or whenever theaters were fully reopened. It was WB that gave him either a limited release or straight to streaming as his two options. He went with the better of two bad options, but it was clearly far from ideal as major markets in the US had yet to re-open.
I think the misconception comes from him saying he wanted to try and keep cinemas open during the crisis, but that doesn't mean that he pushed for something that the studio didn't want to do themselves. If Tenet hadn't become first in line, they would have released Wonder Woman in this exact manner.
 
Exactly.

Also this whole "Nolan pressured the studio for Tenet's release date" has been pretty much disproved. He himself said that it was WB that ultimately chose to let the film come out when it did. Something that is kind of obvious by Wonder Woman as well, a film that got similarly delayed each month, that the studio was constantly pushing for its release and that ultimately made it to cinemas at the peak of covid.

I agree though that it was the day-and-date release format that made him shop Oppenheimer to other studios. But he never actually left WB, he just considered more buyers and it was Universal that gave him more.

Some interesting stuff with Nolan's harsh comments on the 2021 Warner streaming and Nolan moving to Universal:

1. Dune Part 1 was one of the reasons Nolan was pissed about the streaming stuff, yet the Dune director is still making movies with Warner and probably trying to recruit Nolan back to Warner. They are very good buddies.

2. M. Night Shyamalan was one of the people who helped convince Nolan to jump to Universal. And then Shyamalan moved to Warner! Is he now trying to convince Nolan to go back to Warner? Lol.

I think at this point, it would be pretty bad karma for Nolan to abandon Universal. They did a tremendous job helping him turn Oppenheimer into a huge hit at the box office and a huge winner during awards season.

I could see Nolan doing a 50/50 project with Universal & Warner like what happened on Interstellar (Paramount & Warner) or with The Prestige (Disney & Warner). I don't think it should be 100% Warner. Gotta keep Universal as a major player in his projects moving forward.
 
Some interesting stuff with Nolan's harsh comments on the 2021 Warner streaming and Nolan moving to Universal:

1. Dune Part 1 was one of the reasons Nolan was pissed about the streaming stuff, yet the Dune director is still making movies with Warner and probably trying to recruit Nolan back to Warner. They are very good buddies.

2. M. Night Shyamalan was one of the people who helped convince Nolan to jump to Universal. And then Shyamalan moved to Warner! Is he now trying to convince Nolan to go back to Warner? Lol.

I think at this point, it would be pretty bad karma for Nolan to abandon Universal. They did a tremendous job helping him turn Oppenheimer into a huge hit at the box office and a huge winner during awards season.

I could see Nolan doing a 50/50 project with Universal & Warner like what happened on Interstellar (Paramount & Warner) or with The Prestige (Disney & Warner). I don't think it should be 100% Warner. Gotta keep Universal as a major player in his projects moving forward.
Villeneuve is still working with WB because:
A) He can't do otherwise if he wants to finish his Dune trilogy, since they have distributing (and partially producing) rights, and
B) Because they're not the same people who ordered the day-and-date fiasco in charge. Zaslav is garbage but he seems to support cinematic movies as opposed to streaming ones and both Nolan and Villeneuve are champions of the theatrical experience.

But it's interesting that people always remember and bring up Nolan's outburst against the studio, probably because he went to Universal afterwards, and yet tend to forget that Villeneuve's open letter to the previous administration, at the time of that fateful decision, was even harsher! They were of course both right and history has proven it beyond any doubt.

I also agree about Nolan and Universal. I think the door of his returning to WB is definitely more open now, but he tends to keep the same associates as long as things go right, and things went better than ever with Oppenheimer, so I see no reason he should hurry back any time soon.
 
Some interesting stuff with Nolan's harsh comments on the 2021 Warner streaming and Nolan moving to Universal:

1. Dune Part 1 was one of the reasons Nolan was pissed about the streaming stuff, yet the Dune director is still making movies with Warner and probably trying to recruit Nolan back to Warner. They are very good buddies.

2. M. Night Shyamalan was one of the people who helped convince Nolan to jump to Universal. And then Shyamalan moved to Warner! Is he now trying to convince Nolan to go back to Warner? Lol.

I think at this point, it would be pretty bad karma for Nolan to abandon Universal. They did a tremendous job helping him turn Oppenheimer into a huge hit at the box office and a huge winner during awards season.

I could see Nolan doing a 50/50 project with Universal & Warner like what happened on Interstellar (Paramount & Warner) or with The Prestige (Disney & Warner). I don't think it should be 100% Warner. Gotta keep Universal as a major player in his projects moving forward.

Could be some smart risk mitigation too if he brings the studios together. Less financial burden for the individual studios can allow be some extra insurance for a "riskier" project.

I'm really excited to see what he does next. I always am, but now it's kinda like...he's got this monkey off his back. He can kinda go wild now and I think perhaps even more people are ready to go on that ride with him with another big original idea.
 
Seven Oscars:

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actor
Best Editing
Best Score
Best Cinematography

Well done.
I completely missed the Oscars but so happy for this film. Great haul and most of them major awards. Congrats to everyone involved.
 


I'm not surprised by this, he and Emma have definitely been hinting at that through awards season.

Another little clue-- I saw one interview (forget which) where someone asked him if he was considering going smaller after something so "huge" like Oppie. He politely reminded the interviewer that Oppenheimer is actually on the smaller end of the scales he's worked at at this stage in his career, closer to something like Dunkirk.

I'm reading between the lines that he's about to cash dat blank check for another ambitious blockbuster. But we'll see!
 
I'm not surprised by this, he and Emma have definitely been hinting at that through awards season.

Another little clue-- I saw one interview (forget which) where someone asked him if he was considering going smaller after something so "huge" like Oppie. He politely reminded the interviewer that Oppenheimer is actually on the smaller end of the scales he's worked at at this stage in his career, closer to something like Dunkirk.

I'm reading between the lines that he's about to cash dat blank check for another ambitious blockbuster. But we'll see!
Yeah I think a big blockbuster is probably next for him. Now the only question is which genre?
 
I can’t see him going back to WB. They really messed up when they pissed him off to chase short term profits


Zaslav:

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Yeah I think a big blockbuster is probably next for him. Now the only question is which genre?
If he is really in the mood to do a big blockbuster... It's sad because the perfect franchise is right there just waiting for a reboot.
 

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