One of the biggest winners of the streaming wars was Christopher Nolan, whose shocking departure from Warner Bros. reshaped Hollywood.
Before 2021, Nolan was a staple at Warner Bros., having been a partner with the studio for roughly 20 years. Nolan released most of his classic movies under the WB banner, including Inception, Interstellar, and the Dark Knight trilogy.
In 2021, Warner Bros. made a costly decision. The studio decided to give its entire 2021 movie slate day-and-date releases, meaning they would release simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. As a champion of the theatrical experience, Nolan despised the move and called HBO Max the “worst streaming service” in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
Still upset with the decision, Nolan took his next movie to the open market, and Universal won the bidding war for 2023’s Oppenheimer. It’s a decision that changed Hollywood’s theatrical future.
Christopher Nolan’s HBO Max fight changed Hollywood’s theatrical future
During the COVID-19 pandemic, putting movies on streaming made sense. Many people would rather not leave their houses, so releasing new movies directly to streaming was a solid option. The mistake was failing to pivot away from streaming once the theaters started to reopen.
Nolan helped usher in the era of eventizing a movie. After COVID-19, filmmakers and studios needed to convince people to leave their houses and spend their hard-earned money on a night at the movie theater. Audiences were looking for big spectacles, something they couldn’t get at home.
In 2023, Oppenheimer became a cultural phenomenon. Nolan somehow crafted a thrilling biopic in which most scenes feature men talking in rooms, and it grossed $976 million worldwide. It’s a testament to Nolan’s genius as a filmmaker. Ironically, Warner Bros. helped Oppenheimer by releasing Barbie on the same day, creating the cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer. The success of Oppenheimer and Barbie proved that with the right movies, the theatrical experience is better than streaming.
Look at how studios pivoted away from streaming tentpole movies after 2021. Paramount elected to delay Top Gun: Maverick and not release it on Paramount+. The movie grossed $1.5 billion and garnered six Oscar nominations. At Disney, Moana 2 was originally conceived as a Disney+ show. The show was eventually reworked into a sequel that grossed over $1 billion.
Nolan has another winner on his hands with The Odyssey, which just grossed $264 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Nolan could have easily remained silent and watched Warner Bros. implement their new streaming strategy. Instead, he stuck to his beliefs, bet on the theatrical experience, and won.
