In his usual style, Christopher Nolan has put forward why we need the films that others have accused of ‘killing’ cinema.
Christopher Nolan has long been a statesman for cinema, offering insightful takes on the state of the industry. He’s not afraid to to broach difficult topics either, given that his take on Warner Bros’ streaming and theatrical dual release strategy back in 2021 effectively ended a years-long professional relationship with the studio.
Nolan has continued to speak out of late about the realities of the film industry, including a take last week on how the growing lack of physical media is creating a worrying precedent in ‘vanishing films’.
One type of film that sits at the other end of that spectrum is the blockbuster, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese recently loudly decrying superhero films and their like for being “dangerous” to our culture and specifically name-checking Nolan as one of the directors who will be needed to “save cinema.”
In something of a response, Nolan has been chatting to the Associated Press, offering his thoughts on the prevalence of blockbuster movies in our culture and unsurprisingly, his take is as smart as you might expect it to be:
“There’s always a balance in Hollywood between established titles that can assure a return in audience and give people more of what they want,” Nolan said. “That’s always been a big part of the economics of Hollywood, and it pays for a lot of other types of films to be made and distributed.”
“But there also always has to be respect for the audience’s desire for something new. That’s one of the big thrills of going to the movies is, frankly, seeing a trailer for a movie you’ve never heard of or type of movie you haven’t seen.”
“A healthy ecosystem in Hollywood is about a balance between the two things and always has been.”
It’s a pragmatic take and one that makes a lot of sense.
However, Nolan stops short of discussing how healthy or unhealthy he feels the balance is right now, but with both Barbie and his own film, Oppenheimer sitting at the top of the highest-grossing films list for 2023, there’s an argument to be made that perhaps audiences are hungry for what he calls ‘something new’.
In the latest round of news, there’s one big franchise machine that Nolan won’t be joining for his next directorial outing – he has flat out denied any involvement with the next 007 film.
