Christopher Nolan
Why Summer Blockbusters Won’t Ever Go Straight to VOD
Blockbuster Month is celebrating the true titans of the genre. All month long, you’ll read through a variety of features digging deep into the greatest hits of Hollywood, from popcorn classics to underrated gems. Today, Josh Spiegel debates whether the blockbuster will ever eschew the theater experience and go straight to our living rooms. Back at the end of March — remember March? Like, even the concept of the month of March? — my wife informed me that our sister-in-law was being proactive. She was starting an online petition regarding an issue about which she felt passionate. Was it related to the dearth of Covid-19 testing throughout the country? Staggered school re-openings in her state or others in the Union? No, she had begun a petition to exhort the Walt Disney Company to release Mu...
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet Delayed Again: “We Will Share a New 2020 Release Imminently”
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has been delayed a fourth time, and this time it’s indefinitely. Warner Bros. announced on Monday that they are bumping the highly anticipated blockbuster as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country. If you recall, the film had originally been set for a July 17th release, then July 31st, and most recently August 12th. “We will share a new 2020 release date imminently for Tenet,” said Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. “We are not treating Tenet like a traditional global day-and-date release, and our upcoming marketing and distribution plans will reflect that.” Emmerich explained, “Our goals throughout this process have been to ensure the highest odds of success for our films while also being ready to support our theater partne...
The 100 Greatest Summer Blockbuster Movies of All Time
“Cool.” “Riveting.” “Gripping.” “High-Octane Thrill Ride!” All cliches of film criticism and yet all feelings we’ve experienced while watching a crackerjack summer blockbuster. Oops, there we go again. All things considered, any moviegoer can speak to the divine feeling of sitting in a cool, packed theater in the heat of the summer and being united by narrative. Not just united, but hypnotized, mentally convinced that the fate of the world is before your eyes, and there is nothing more important in that very moment. It’s escapism. It’s popcorn. It’s Chinatown. But also, it’s the power of spectacle. Over the years, Hollywood has certainly run that concept through the ringer, having turned what used to be a summer blockbuster season into, well, an entire calendar year. Now, all those aforeme...
Inception Is Why We’ll Wait for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
Blockbuster Month is celebrating the true titans of the genre. All month long, you’ll read through a variety of features digging deep into the greatest hits of Hollywood, from popcorn classics to underrated gems. Today, Sam Mwakasisi delves into the daunting challenges Christopher Nolan and his potentially game-changing new film, Tenet, face in these uncertain times. Every era in film comes with its own technological advancements, but it takes that perfect note to unify the tools of the times. Amidst the ensuing pandemic, and its share of indefinite delays, hope for a solid note is thinning, not least with the filmmaker who has been central to the conversation for the past decade. On July 16, 2010, exactly 10 years ago yesterday, Christopher Nolan unleashed Inception into theaters, galvani...
The 20 Greatest Summer Blockbuster Movie Trailers
Blockbuster Month is celebrating the true titans of the genre. In the weeks ahead, you’ll read through a variety of features digging deep into the greatest hits of Hollywood, from popcorn classics to underrated gems. Today, we head to the theater early with Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman to revisit the greatest trailers in summer blockbuster history. Hype begins with the trailer. Sure, there’s the studio announcement, the lobby poster, even the intellectual property itself, but there’s nothing like first seeing those epic few minutes. If you’re lucky, you get some glimpses of the action, a sense of the film’s tone, maybe even pieces of a score, and a tagline that sends shivers up your spine. Yeah, that’s when the magic sets in. Today, we take the trailer for granted. We not only know ther...
Fortnite Hosts Christopher Nolan-Themed Movie Night
Last month, Fortnite debuted the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller Tenet. Now, in a continuation of their partnership, the video game platform has just hosted its very own movie night dedicated to the famed director. The epic, unprecedented streaming party took place on Friday, June 26th and highlighted three of Nolan’s most popular films. A presentation of 2010’s Inception was the main event, “screening” on the game’s “party royale island” a few times throughout the day for crowds of all sizes. Other Nolan movies Batman Begins from 2005 and 2006’s The Prestige were also shown at various times depending on each users’ location. Although the regional restrictions for streaming posed a bit of a challenge, ultimately Fornite’s Christopher Nolan-themed evening was mea...
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet Gets Delayed Two Weeks
For months now, Hollywood has setting its sights on the July 17th release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet as the day movie theaters across the country begin opening back up. While Nolan remains determined to screen his latest epic in theaters, the release has now been pushed back two weeks, to July 31st, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A majority of North American theaters have been closed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim to re-open in mid-July in time for Nolan’s blockbuster. Earlier this week, AMC reiterated those plans, confirming that 97% of its theaters should be operational by then. Warner Bros. gave no explanation for why it’s pushing Nolan’s Tenet by two weeks. However, as an amends to theaters that will be re-open by July 17th, the studio will be makin...
Christopher Nolan Bought a Real 747 for Tenet Just to Crash It
For being one of the most anticipated films of 2020, Christopher Nolan’s new movie Tenet has kept a surprising amount of its plot, not to mention on-set details, under wraps. Not even Robert Pattinson, one of its main stars, could explain what the flick is about in his absurd GQ cover story. It’s only now, mere weeks until the summer blockbuster will be released, that Nolan has finally shared a trivia-like teaser: apparently he purchased a very real 747 for Tenet… just to crash the plane for a dramatic scene. “I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” he told Total Film. “We started to run the numbers… It became apparent that it would actually be more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this seque...
Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson, and Karyn Kusama Surprise NYU Graduates Over Zoom
Who spoke at your graduation? Probably not Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson, or Karyn Kusama. Well, that was a reality for this year’s graduating class of Cinema Studies majors at New York University. As IndieWire reports, the acclaimed auteurs all surprised the budding filmmakers with kudos as they head out into … eh, reality. Ever the realistic, Wright cut right to the chase of said reality: “I know this has been a long, hard journey to get here and I know you’d all love to celebrate with each other, and I’m sorry you cant do that, but this is still a milestone in your lives and you should all be very, very proud of yourselves for what you’ve done.” The Baby Driver filmmaker contended, “If it makes you feel any better, I never got to graduate either because I never went to f...
Christopher Nolan Unleashes New Tenet Trailer: Watch
Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. are insistent on getting Tenet into theaters — COVID be damned. To keep the hype machine going, they’ve unleashed a new trailer — which debuted live on Fortnite — that has us salivating for the time-warping thriller. Like the first preview that dropped in December, this latest trailer offers more eye candy and even more proof that this is, indeed, the “most ambitious film” Nolan has ever made. We’re still fuzzy on what the hell exactly is going on, but we know we want more. Once again, the film centers around a spy played by John David Washington, who’s been tasked with preventing World War III. Only it’s not nuclear holocaust he’s trying to stop — it’s someone with the ability to manipulate time in a very unique, mind-bending way. Editors’ Pic...
