"The Proper Way To Watch A Movie"

Denis Villeneuve has been vocal recently about his next film, Dune, receiving the day and date release treatment with HBO Max and theaters.

When WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar originally announced the hybrid plan for same day movie releases in theaters and HBO Max for 2021, he was vilified for it by most of Hollywood, creatives and executives alike. They called it a rash decision based on developments with the COVID-19 pandemic, and said he pulled the rug out from under them by springing the decision on creatives that were expecting theatrical release exclusivity no matter what.

Then after a month or so of the likes of Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins and Villeneuve really making a stink about it, everyone went quiet and it wasn’t a huge deal anymore, for at least a while.

When Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat made their debuts on the hybrid plan, the outcry against the hybrid plan strangely wasn’t that strong, was it?

It’s not strange though, because WarnerMedia renegotiated the contracts for creatives whose movies became part of the hybrid plan. That’s why the issue got real quiet for a bit, because the money had been worked out. That was ultimately the biggest issue in the first place.

Now though, with Dune’s release date getting closer and the Delta Variant threatening to push movies back to the 2020 days of shifting release dates and delays, Villeneuve is leading the outcry again, “fighting” for his art to be seen the “right way,” on a theater screen, regardless of how safe or not it is for the general audience.

In his defense, he did make his awareness of the pandemic evident, but the rest of his wording in this GamesRadar piece is pretty sharp:

On the one hand, he’s allowed to feel however he wants about his film being seen on TV screens. On the other hand, he should choose his words more carefully, since not that many people are going to give his film the time of day in the first place, and isn’t the goal of making and promoting a movie so that people can actually see it?

Fans will debate Dune’s visibility and box office potential from a incredibly biased perspective much of the time, claiming that it’s a cult classic, one of the best selling novels of all time, and boasts an all-star cast in this version, which includes Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin, just to name a few.

All of that is true, but what’s also true is that if you ask 10 random people what Dune is, you’ll be lucky if two of them have seen the TV spots and the trailers, let alone know that it’s a best-selling book series.

This isn’t said from the perspective of someone who is general audience either. I’ve read the book and I’ve seen the David Lynch film. In fact, thanks to SyFy, then called The Sci-Fi Channel, I’ve seen multiple versions of it.

The fact is, Dune, whether fans want to admit it or not, is a niche science fiction property as far as the general audience is concerned, and before the pandemic, the odds of it being a massive blockbuster hit, even with an all-star cast, weren’t very good.

Then add delays and a virus variant that is affecting even the mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe at the box office, and you’ve got a recipe for an underwhelming financial performance in the traditional market, which is all the more reason that HBO Max and streaming in general should be seen as potentially a saving grace for Dune. By giving the audience the choice to watch it at home, without risking themselves or their families, and also taking away the requirements of buying a ticket, driving to a theater, blocking out 3 hours of time just for that without the ability to pause the film at all, and dealing with others in the audience that surely aren’t as courteous as they should be, you’re potentially opening up Dune as a franchise to a segment of the population that otherwise wouldn’t have even given it the time of day, no matter how much marketing WB pumped into it.

The problem is, that’s simply not good enough for Villeneuve, or at least that’s how he’s presenting it, and he’s using the contract situation now to twist the narrative and cloud the issue on what the true problem at hand is.

We have TWO things that are happening here with this situation: Contract language, and release windows.

When it comes to the contract situation, Villeneuve is on the money in supporting Scarlett Johannson’s lawsuit, because terms SHOULD be renegotiated, just like his were with WarnerMedia. What happened was that the studios all lost money in 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic, which hasn’t even remotely ended by the way, and they now all see streaming releases as the way to not only keep from losing money with delayed releases, but also to cut out the middleman in terms of profits, which in this case is the theater exhibitors like AMC, Regal and Cinemark.

Naturally, the theater owners aren’t happy about this, which is why when Universal fired the first salvo last year with Trolls World Tour, AMC very publicly battled with them about it.

So to clarify, you have 3 different groups here: Studios, creatives and theaters. Streaming gives the studios the ability to have consistent revenue on a monthly basis in the millions, without needing to cut the theaters in on the action.

The problem is that the studios also see a chance to cut out the creatives monetarily, or at least be cheap with them in terms of the bottom line, and when the creatives got angry about that, we’ve seen it handled by the studios two different ways. WarnerMedia renegotiated with their talent and paid around $200 million reportedly to make things right, while Disney has been playing hardball, at least with ScarJo anyway, since reportedly Emma Stone netted some more millions in the wake of her pursuing legal options over Cruella’s Premiere Access release on Disney+, all leading to her signing for a sequel.

At the end of the day, this should lead to all creative contracts now featuring specific language about streaming and where the movie could be released after it is completed. Anyone arguing against that is treading into a morally dark area in terms of honoring a deal or not. WarnerMedia just decided to beg forgiveness instead of asking permission first, while Disney has decided to do neither.

But that’s not what Villeneuve is enraged about it, is it? Because his contract was renegotiated, hence his words here in La Presse, translated by Film Updates:

Ok, which situation are we talking about here, Denis? Are we talking about honoring a contract, or are we talking about theatrical exclusivity, because while they are both connected, they are NOT the same thing, especially since the studios are actually now doing what you claim to be a stickler for in your contracts going forward.

When the studios decided to go for day and date release, whether it was HBO Max’s hybrid plan or Disney+ Premiere Access, the theater chains obviously still wanted some measure of exclusivity, so now what has happened is the 90-day release window that has traditionally been the staple in Hollywood for years, is now 45 days, officially so with Paramount, WB and Disney for anywhere between a handful of releases, to all future releases starting this year or in 2022. So while day and date might still be a thing for the next few months, deals are in place to go to a shorter theatrical window, and then straight to the streaming service.

So is Villeneuve really just complaining about his one film being day and date under the renegotiated plan? That’s his business, but calling it ridiculous and conflating it with the contract situation just clouds the issue and doesn’t endear him to the audience that he really needs to see his movie, you know so that it can get the Part 2 that we all want to see, since we know the Dune movie releasing this year is only going to be the first half of the book?

Now, because of how Villeneuve has worded things and clouded the issue, the fans are at odds over the situation, with many of them ready to defend him tooth and nail not only because of the contract issue, but largely because of the theatrical release issue. Again, ignoring the fact that his deal was renegotiated and made as whole as possible in a financial sense, it now becomes a case of “defending the art” because he should have the right to have his work shown in theaters first, no matter what the studio says, and arguing otherwise is just being a shill for WB or the corporate system.

Here’s why that’s complete BS: Because it’s not as black and white of situation as that, yet again, like with almost everything else we deal with as fans.

First, like it or not, Hollywood is still a business. As much as we don’t trust studios and their executives, they are the literal gatekeepers that guard all the doors and hold all the keys to the films we want to see. Nothing happens unless they say yes to it, and that’s just how it works, so no, Villeneuve DOESN’T get the right to decide how his movies will be first shown by the studio that is paying him to make them. What he DOES get the right to do, is leave a studio that he thinks isn’t working out for him, and try to get his films made elsewhere for theatrical exclusivity, but based on more of his words, he might be leaning toward sticking with WB:

So maybe he’s talking about WB’s recent deal with AMC for 45-day release windows next year, or maybe he’s talking about their effort to renegotiate his deal monetarily. Either way, the studio still calls that shot, and they appear to have decided to try and keep him around. Cool, he’s a great filmmaker.

The difference between Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan though, is that Nolan has a pair of billion dollar grossers for WB under his belt in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. The financial success of those movies led to Nolan essentially getting to do whatever he wanted, which is why Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet even exist. That’s how it works in Hollywood.

Villeneuve on the other hand, has made $680.7 million with his films. Total. That’s over 6 films, the last of which, Blade Runner 2049, bombed, and before you get into the whole “sometimes it’s not about money” aspect of this, it just shows you how big the onions on Villeneuve are that he thinks he can speak with this kind of strength, and he’s not even a box office darling for his own studio. I don’t agree with Nolan’s rhetoric either, but at least he can say he’s a moneymaker for WB. Denis really can’t say that, and when you’re promoting a new film due out in October, you might want to be more careful with your PR on that score, because telling your audience how they should watch your movie isn’t the most endearing way to make money, and art or not, directors still have to make money for their studios. That’s why all the Zack Snyder stuff is even more frustrating, because he’s much closer to Nolan’s level in terms of money made for WB than someone like Villeneuve is.

Now, about the whole art thing. You might prefer to watch a film like Dune in the theater, and it might have been made specifically with a big screen in mind, but since when did that become a non-negotiable requirement of properly watching a movie?

Do I want to see Dune in theaters? Yes I do. Will it happen? Not really sure, because even though I’m vaccinated, I’m not that comfortable going to movie theaters right now myself, so I’m personally glad that I have the option of not missing out on it and being able to see it safely on HBO Max if necessary, which was an option I didn’t have in 2020 when Tenet was released, and they wouldn’t put it at drive-in theaters in areas that didn’t have indoor theaters open.

So does that mean I’m watching it the wrong way if I choose to see it at home? No it doesn’t. It’s my choice and that would be on me to craft that experience, which is what the audience has been saying en masse for the past decade, that they want the choice to craft their own experience, whether it’s at the theater or in their homes. For everyone that wants theatrical presentation preserved completely, there are plenty who would sooner not drive to a theater, not scramble for a babysitter, wait for the kids to go to bed, make their own popcorn and watch a new movie with the ability to pause for bathroom breaks if necessary, so they don’t miss anything.

There is a romanticism with the theatrical experience that those who defend Villeneuve are absolutely clinging to, but it’s highly subjective and again, when dealing with a niche property like Dune, you’re not doing yourself a ton of favors when you speak as sharply as he has been so far on the situation. Acknowledging the pandemic is one thing, but not acknowledging the freedom of choice for your audience is something else.

It would be different if Denis’ reaction was closer to Patty Jenkins, who at first was very outspoken about Wonder Woman 1984 being on HBO Max, but also managed to pivot that into an encouragement to see it safely in theaters if possible, and that was at a time where vaccines weren’t as readily available as they are now. She never called watching it on HBO Max “ridiculous” as far as I know, and didn’t have a bunch of similes to compare it to as a reinforcement of her elitism.

So this is why there’s a divide between those who fully back Villeneuve’s feelings, and those who think he’s being a staunch elitist on the subject. What will be interesting to see is how many of the people who are firmly on his side and in some cases taking an anti-streaming approach at times, will actually see the movie in theaters. Personally, if I can find the safest way to make it happen for me, I will, but I’m also not making a big deal over the hybrid approach either, because I believe in the audience making the choice for themselves. If for some reason you don’t, then you better put your money and your theater tickets where your mouth is, hopefully in a manner that is still safe for you to enjoy.