Christopher Nolan's Dramatic Break-Up With Warner Bros. May Not Be Permanent
Despite having a pretty messy, highly public breakup, it appears that Christopher Nolan is willing to return to Warner Bros. to make another movie. This comes as the filmmaker is enjoying one of the biggest hits of his career in "Oppenheimer," which is one of the biggest movies of the year and still has an outside shot at crossing the $1 billion mark at the box office, which is downright insane for a three-hour, R-rated biopic. That movie was made for Universal Pictures as a result of Nolan's breakup with WB. Could a reunion be on the horizon though? Nolan isn't ruling it out by any means.
The filmmaker recently spoke with Variety about the success of "Oppenheimer" ahead of the film's home video release later this month. For those who may need a brief refresher, Nolan spent most of his career at Warner Bros. churning out hits like "The Dark Knight" and "Inception," amongst others. Then, during the pandemic, things got heated between the A-list filmmaker and the studio. It started with the release of "Tenet," which ultimately was given an exclusive theatrical rollout at the height of COVID. Then, when the brass decided to release its entire 2021 movie slate on HBO Max (now just Max), Nolan had it.
Pretty famously, the director publicly decried the move, saying at the 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." That paved the way for him to take his business elsewhere — Namely Universal. "It's water under the bridge," Nolan now says in this new interview of the whole situation. That's a pretty major change of tune, to say the least.
Universal and Warner Bros. get to battle it out
In fairness, much has changed. AT&T is no longer in charge of the studio following Discovery's purchase of WarnerMedia last year. It's now Warner Bros. Discovery, which is under the direction of CEO David Zaslav, who is very much committed to releasing movies in theaters and very much opposed to direct-to-streaming movies. He also hired a pair of new film chiefs in Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca. To that end, things get even more interesting as the interview rolls on. Nolan was asked directly whether or not he would consider making a movie for Warner Bros. again, saying the following:
"Oh yeah, absolutely. Pam and Mike and Zaslav, they're trying to do some great things with that studio, which is encouraging to see."
Nolan, rather wisely, has not anchored himself to any one place with a long-term deal. He was essentially able to dictate his own terms when Universal wanted to make "Oppenheimer" because he's one of few A-list filmmakers who can bring in audiences very reliably. Yes, his "Batman" movies were massive hits, but his originals have been massive as well, with "Inception" ($825 million worldwide) and "Interstellar" ($648 million worldwide) serving as the best examples. That affords him a great deal of freedom.
To that end, Nolan once again has the freedom to choose what his next project will be and, more importantly, who he's going to make it for. De Luca said earlier this year that they want Nolan back. At the same time, Universal is probably prepared to write the filmmaker a blank check to do whatever the heck he wants. There may be a bit of a bidding war as a result. In the end, Nolan wins. If all goes well, lovers of cinema will benefit the most as this master filmmaker will get every resource imaginable to make his next movie.
"Oppenheimer" arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 21, 2023.