The US site Variety published an article in which director Denis Villeneuve criticized the decision of Warner Bros to distribute its new films simultaneously in theaters and on its streaming platform HBO Max. Villeneuve – who in recent years has directed Sicario, Arrival e Blade Runner 2049 – is also the director of the remake of Dune, a film initially slated for 2020 and then moved to 2021, and one of the films at the center of Warner Bros.
Villeneuve he wrote that he “discovered from the newspapers” the decision of Warner Bros and that according to him the company AT&T (which controls Warner Bros) has shown that it has “no love for cinema, and not even for its viewers”, which AT&T only thinks ” to its survival on the stock exchange ”and who has decided to“ sacrifice ”the films of 2021 in order to save HBO Max, a service (currently not available in Italy) which according to Villeneuve“ has been a failure so far ”.
Villeneuve explained that he considers streaming services “a positive and powerful force in the film and television ecosystem” but added: “I want viewers to know that streaming alone cannot support the film industry as we knew it before. COVID “. Villeneuve wrote that he believes Warner Bros’ decision won’t give a Dune the possibility of having good economic results and that “in the end piracy will triumph”. He then specified:
«Warner Bros may have just killed the saga of Dune. John Stankey [amministratore delegato di AT&T] he explained that the oxen escaped. The truth is that they are going to the slaughterhouse ».
Villeneuve explained that Dune – according to him his best film ever – it is a film designed for cinema and that it is possible that in October 2021 (the date it was moved) there would have been fewer problems related to the coronavirus. He then said that he strongly believes in the future of cinema and the cinematographic experience and that he will work to “protect that culturally vital medium that is cinema”.
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Even before Villeneuve, the decision of Warner Bros (and therefore of AT&T) had been criticized also by Christopher Nolan, director who in the past months he was very busy to release in cinemas Tenet, his latest film (also produced by Warner Bros).
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