Tenet arrives at HBO Max – which director Nolan has called “the worst streaming service” – on May 1

Christopher Nolan’s quirky thriller Principle will debut on HBO Max on May 1, just months after the director called it “the worst streaming service.”

Principle was scheduled to hit theaters last July, but its opening date has been repeatedly delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It debuted in theaters outside of the United States, including Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom in August, and in American theaters in September.

Nolan, a long-time supporter of watching movies on the big screen, has bluntly criticized Warner Bros. ‘decision to release all of its 2021 films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. He said in a statement that “Some of the greatest filmmakers in our industry and the most important movie stars went to bed the night before they thought they were working for the biggest movie studio and woke up to find that ‘they were working for the worst streaming service. ”

Reports at the time suggested the studio had kept filmmakers and stars in the dark about its streaming plans, and Nolan said many were caught off guard.

“There is such a controversy around this, because [Warner Bros.] didn’t tell anyone, ”he said ETOnline in December. “In 2021, they have some of the best filmmakers in the world, some of the biggest stars in the world who have worked for years in some cases on these projects that are close to their hearts and that are supposed to be great. -screen experiences. They are meant to be available to the widest possible audience. “

HBO Max, launched in May 2020, had nearly 40 million U.S. subscribers in January.

Principle, which stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh, has grossed more than $ 363 million worldwide since its release. He’s up for two Oscars: Best Direction in Visual Effects and Best Direction in Production Design.