Exes Reunited? Warner Bros. Gave Christopher Nolan a 7 Figure Bonus In Good Faith Out Of Nowhere To Hopefully Mend Their Breakup And Start Making Blockbuster Movies Again
Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. had a great thing going for a while. You had masterpieces like the Christian Bale 'Batman' trilogy, Inception, The Prestige, and Interstellar to name a few that graced the big screen and captivated theaters worldwide. Then 2021 happened when then-Warner Bros. CEO Jason Kilar decided to release every movie on HBO Max at the same time as their theatrical release. Kilar did this without telling any of the movie creators, artists, directors, actors, etc who had pacts in their contracts that this wouldn't ever happen. As a man whose movies are built for the biggest of stages, Nolan became enraged and basically broke up with the studio. He took his talents to Universal to make his next monster in 'Oppenheimer' which debuts next month.
With Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy now at the helm now, Warner Bros. reportedly wants their messiah back in the director's chair helping them put the biggest movies back in the theaters. With their relationship in shambles, what's their plan on wooing him back? While the axing of Kilar was necessary, it's not close to enough. In hopes of a future together the studio tossed Nolan a nice little 7 figure check as an "I'm sorry, we know we fucked up" olive branch.
(Variety) The payment was tied to his 2020 film “Tenet,” which the studio released. A source says De Luca, Abdy and Zaslav all agreed he was owed the bonus in good faith. No strings were attached, according to insiders, but the studio was partly motivated to repair that fractured relationship. In a sign that the healing has begun, Nolan has done post-production work on “Oppenheimer” on the Warners lot. (A rep for Nolan did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.)
The concept of a good faith gesture being a 7 figure check is fucking wild. All just on a prayer that it will get him back in their good graces so he can make sick movies again with them. They're treating Nolan like that ex you treated like shit and let getaway, but now that you're sad and lonely you realize she was the best thing ever for you. Instead of waiting outside their house in the pouring rain blasting their favorite song they gave him millions of dollars. So desperate, but when you're talking about this big of a fuckup you gotta kiss their feet and beg for mercy.
Now the thing is that Nolan definitely doesn't care about a million bucks. Per his definitely not accurate Google net worth he checks in at $250M. He's rich enough that there's a chance he didn't even see that good faith payment until the story broke.
While Warner Bros. does seem to be genuinely apologetic here, wouldn't it be amazing if Nolan still told them to fuck off? Like if Oppenheimer crushes next month and it earns him an Oscar how are you gonna walk away from Universal just like that? Money and freedom certainly could and likely would do the trick I suppose. Those two concepts run the goddamn world. Morals? Integrity? They can all be overcome, it just takes some expensive persuasion.
Given the fact that they have new executives running the show, saying no to working with them again wouldn't pack the same punch. Jason Kilar is the head he wants on a stick and he's long gone. The fact that Nolan's doing post production work for 'Oppenheimer' on the Warner Bros. studios lot kinda gives you a sign there is a resolution coming. That's good news for us as fans because the Nolan/WB duo produces some of the more entertaining movies out there.
It must be fun to be Nolan though considering you have this whole gigantic movie studio on their knees desperately begging for your help. Power is great and Christopher Nolan has all of it.