Christopher Nolan is undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers in Hollywood right now. Even Martin Scorsese admits that Nolan can bring the cinematic revolution that the film industry is in dire need of. Although Nolan has not made a lot of movies, he has directed some of the most groundbreaking movies ever made. This implies that the director believes in quality over quantity.
Martin Scorsese has been in the industry for far longer than Christopher Nolan, and both of these directors agree on one thing. They both agree that franchise-led movies do not define global cinema. There was a fair amount of backlash on this opinion of theirs, and now an industry insider has also expressed his disagreement with the Tenet director’s viewpoint.
Industry Insider Disagrees With Christopher Nolan’s Stance on Franchise-led Superhero and IP-Driven Films
Christopher Nolan, known for his complex storytelling and masterful filmmaking, is considered one of the leading filmmakers of the 21st century. Having started his filmmaking journey with short films, he made his feature film directorial debut with the film- Following in 1998. He gained recognition for his second film- Memento, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Nolan’s switch from independent to studio filmmaking achieved greater worldwide recognition with films like Insomnia, The Dark Knight trilogy, and his most recent venture- Oppenheimer. The latter was a box-office mammoth with a total gross of $959.9 million. It has also received 13 Academy Award nominations, a rare feat for a biopic to achieve.
Since he has made such great contributions to the filmmaking industry, it would be assumed Christopher Nolan’s words have some gravitas. However, even the best of people have someone to oppose them. Nolan had said that franchise-led superhero movies and IP-driven films are just not it as people want to see something new, and industry insider Jeff Sneider begs to disagree.
While talking to John Rocha on The Hot Mic podcast, Sneider was asked his views on Nolan’s stance. He said:
“I, in general, see the culture getting dumber, from a cultural perspective.”
Sneider went on to say that Oppenheimer did so well because it was directed by Christopher Nolan, and if some random director had directed it, the movie might have done so well.
Christopher Nolan Believes There is An Appetite for Something New
Christopher Nolan has been clear about his stance on movies shaped by intellectual property and franchises as he believes that the success of Oppenheimer is suggesting that global cinema is becoming less defined by such movies.
In an interview with Alex Zane (via Deadline), Nolan said:
“I think the success of Oppenheimer certainly points to a sort of post franchise, post intellectual property, landscape for movies — it’s kind of encouraging.”
He also went on to say that the success of Oppenheimer reminded that:
“the studios that there is an appetite for something people haven’t seen before or an approach to things that people haven’t seen before.”
According to Nolan, if an R-rated 3-hour movie like Oppenheimer can make so much money then there is certainly an appetite in the audience to watch new things.
