Warner Bros is reportedly trying to woo Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson with the aim of bringing them back into the fold.
The the new heads of Warner Bros. Discovery’s film division, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, are on a charm offensive. According to Variety, the pair have revealed plans to emphasise theatrical, take big swings and lure Christopher Nolan back to the studio that he left in 2021. If you recall, that public break-up occurred following a very high-profile disagreement over the studio’s release strategy of bringing its annual film slate to theatrical and streaming at the same time.
Nolan would break a relationship with the studio that had endured for almost two decades, instead earning himself a very handsome deal at Universal where he is set to release Oppenheimer next month. Beyond that though, the British filmmaker’s future is uncertain but according to the report, Warner Bros remains keen to bring him back into the fold.
The report states that a rather large royalty payment has been made to Nolan for Tenet, his last film for the studio, in the hope that this will smooth things over between the two parties. It might be working too: the piece also adds that Nolan conducted Oppenheimer's post-production process on the Warner Bros lot.
Also on the wish list for De Luca and Abdy is Peter Jackson, the director of the beloved Lord Of The Rings trilogy and slightly less beloved Hobbit trilogy which he made for the studio’s New Line division. We know that in the current era of Warner Bros Discovery under CEO David Zaslav, the studio is set to lean hard into franchise filmmaking and a return to Middle-Earth is presumably a key part of that strategy. As such, De Luca and Abdy have also revealed that they’ve travelled to New Zealand to hold talks with Jackson about possible futures for the franchise.
Only time will tell if either filmmaker can be tempted back but should either one re-sign with the studio, it will not only be a something of a coup, but a pretty good public relations move too as the studio looks to repair the tarnished image it acquired during the pandemic as being unfriendly to filmmakers. We’ll bring you more on this story as and when we hear it.
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