When Christopher Nolan called out Netflix for their "mindless policy" and "bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films"

Christopher Nolan has always been a vocal critic of the streaming media and a huge supporter of theatres, be it the practice of going to watch movies or the innovations in big-screen filmmaking. The director has recently popped back into the news with the success of Interstellar's re-release in IMAX and for Netflix using his AI-generated voice for an event in their film division.

This is perhaps the right time to recall how the director was and is a vocal critic of the streaming giant, which has effectively become the biggest in the business over the past few years.

In an interview with IndieWire, going back to 2017, the director criticized Netflix's strategies and called them out for their practice of theatrical releases, which is far from ideal, as per the Oscar-winning director. Discussing this, Nolan had said:

"Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films...They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation. So they’re not even getting in the game, and I think they’re missing a huge opportunity."

He further added Amazon's example as a streaming platform doing justice to the theatrical releases, saying:

"You can see that Amazon is very clearly happy to not make that same mistake...The theaters have a 90-day window. It’s a perfectly usable model. It’s terrific."

He went on to point out in the same interview how he believed Netflix was after shutting down theatres and converting the entire crowd to a streaming audience.

---

"It’s so pointless. I don’t really get it."- Christopher Nolan on Netflix's streaming strategies

Nolan in FYC Special Screening Of Amazon Prime's Fallout (Image via Getty)

As a director who has always been extremely open about his views about theatres and audiences for theatres, Netflix's strategies come as a sharp contrast to Nolan's views, which is also perhaps the reason the director has never worked with the streamer, and will likely not in the future as well.

In the interview with IndieWire, he further laid down criticism on Netflix for their streaming strategies, claiming that their efforts at providing good, meaningful entertainment would be more appreciated if they embraced the theatre culture. He elaborated:

"I think the investment that Netflix is putting into interesting filmmakers and interesting projects would be more admirable if it weren’t being used as some kind of bizarre leverage against shutting down theaters...It’s so pointless. I don’t really get it."

Of course, since this time, Netflix has grown a lot bigger and churns out much more content now, but its relationship with theatres does remain at a point where Christopher Nolan cannot hop into the boat just yet.

Christopher Nolan at the 96th Annual Academy Awards (Image via Getty)

This is perhaps the reason a massive online outrage started after Puck reported earlier today that Netflix's film division, perhaps ironically, had used Christopher Nolan's AI-generated voice for one of their event's announcements. This led to many fans expressing their outrage on social media platforms like X, with some even claiming that the veteran director should sue the company for this.

Netflix and Christopher Nolan have yet to comment on the scenario, which would further give a glimpse at the gravity of the situation. More details about this is expected to arrive soon. Stay tuned for updates.