While “Tenet” director Christopher Nolan is steaming that Warner Bros. has chosen to release its full 2021 slate as streaming on HBO Max, “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins is more open to the idea — for now.
“If you had told me a year ago that we would ever go straight to streaming in any way, shape or form, I would have flipped out. Like I’m not for that plan in general” she told SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle. “I’m very pro-theatrical release and I will be that again, as soon as this is over.”
She added, “However, this is such a crazy year… all of us are trying to figure out [our] lives, how to do everything the best we can.” She pointed out that if every movie distributor waited till the end of the pandemic, “then every movie in the world tries to come out at the same time,”
Her sequel, “Wonder Woman 1984,” will stream Dec. 25.
“I just was like, ‘You know what? That’s actually pretty incredible to get to share’ … and in this moment, to just try to reach people however they can see it. I’m so grateful …I make films because of communion with audiences.” She figures, “It’s cool, the timing.”
The movie will also be in select theaters.
Miffed Nolan told the Associated Press, “You have these great filmmakers who worked with passion and diligence for years on projects that are intended to be feature films with fantastic movie stars. And they’ve all now been told that they’re a loss-leader for a fledgling streaming service.”
His film “Tenet” did not go straight to HBO Max, and will be available “through Roku and Amazon Prime and iTunes and be everywhere all at once for people to enjoy,” he said.