The announcement by Warner Bros that next year all 17 planned films will also be shown on the streaming portal HBO Max (and that at the same time and for one month) is causing discussion in the industry. Because prominent directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve criticized the decision of the film studio sharply.
Villeneuve, who is directly affected as the director of the new Dune edition, wrote, for example, that Warner Bros. was making itself a de facto slave to the interests of the telecommunications company AT&T: “There is absolutely no love for the cinema here, not even for the audience. It’s all about the survival of a telecom mammoth that currently has an astronomical debt of more than $ 150 billion. ”
Sony Pictures benefits
Warner competitors, on the other hand, support the decision – out of self-interest, mind you. Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra revealed in an interview with CNBC: You can currently experience “a small boom” with requests from Hollywood creatives who want to work with a studio that is dedicated to theatrical releases.
“The real upside was the number of calls from Hollywood talent who came to us and said, ‘We want to do business with you because we know you’re a distributor and producer,'” said Vinciquerra. “That actually worked very well for us.”
To be fair, it has to be said that the Sony Pictures boss is making a virtue out of necessity. Because, unlike Warner, Sony does not have its own streaming service and has to stick to cinemas, whether you want to or not. In addition, Sony shouldn’t be too full of words here, because this year they sold the World War II epic Greyhound, which was actually intended for the cinema, to Apple – much to the displeasure of its star Tom Hanks.
– .