Christopher Nolan labels Netflix ‘mindless’, the internet responds

christopher nolan netflix

Christopher Nolan has come out in defense of theatrical distributions ahead of his latest film Dunkirk‘s release.

In an interview with IndieWirethe director called Netflix’s distribution policy “mindless” in that it requires content to be simultaneously released on digital and in theatres.

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“I think they’re missing a huge opportunity,” he said. “You can see that Amazon is very clearly happy to not make that same mistake. The theaters have a 90-day window. It’s a perfectly usable model. It’s terrific.”

Christopher Nolan had a few choice words about streaming service Netflix this week, calling it ‘mindless’

Nolan is famous for his determination to shoot on film, and works to optimise his creations for the theatre. Nolan wants complete immersion into his films and sees that as an experience only cinema provides.

His comments sparked debate on Twitter, where everyone had varying opinions as to where he went wrong.

One of the first to voice their criticism was director Ava Duvernay, who thought it discriminated against those who don’t have theatres nearby.

Others agreed with that sentiment, especially considering his films are best viewed on IMAX screens where tickets are notoriously pricey.

Some on Twitter criticised Nolan’s comments that Netflix helping out budding filmmakers would only be admirable “if it weren’t being used as some kind of bizarre leverage against shutting down theaters”.

Some users thought he was another filmmaker scared of a changing industry.

But others thought this backlash was unwarranted, seeing as Nolan said that he wanted his films to have time in the cinema before they moved to digital — not that he was opposed to digital completely.

Nothing like a good old traditional vs modern debate to stir up the discourse.

Featured image: charlieanders2 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, resized)

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