The project is meant to be a smaller-scale feature film for Nolan, which in his case, meant a production budget of around $100 million and an equal marketing spend, according to sources. He asked for total creative control, 20 percent of first dollar gross,
a blackout period from the studio wherein the company would not release another movie three weeks before and three weeks after his release. And he asked for what insiders say was around a 100-day theatrical window. (Some sources have said the number was 110 days, with one person saying it was 130 days.) These were, in fact, many of the conditions Nolan was accustomed to enjoying at Warners.
Paramount was out of the mix early. The surprise executive
shake-up late last week that saw Gianopulos — also a booster of the theatrical experience — exit the venerable studio to be replaced by eye-on-the-streaming prize Brian Robbins, nixed it as a contender.
Apple was ready to commit to a theatrical window but nowhere near what the filmmaker wanted.