Nicole Kidman Makes Movies Worse

AMC Theatres’ new ad campaign featuring the Australian actress sends the opposite message of the one it wishes to convey

Finally, there was a reason to go back to the movies.

For a couple of years, there hadn’t been. First, Covid shuttered theaters across the country. Then, after they reopened, there were no movies. With seating capacities limited and many of their patrons still too fearful to return because of the pandemic, studios postponed their highest profile releases, some more than once and for more than a year. With nothing to see and no one to see it, Hollywood suffered billions in losses.

Eager to recoup whatever they could, studios sold films to streaming services like Amazon Prime and Apple TV+. Those with their own streaming outlets placed their movies there to promote them and increase their subscriber bases. Disney made several movies available on its Disney+ service, some at no additional cost and some for an extra fee.

Warner Bros. decided to release all of its 2021 titles on HBO Max the same day they arrived in theaters. Cinema operators were aghast, seeing the policy as a threat to their survival. Some threatened to boycott movies from any studio that released its films online and theatrically at the same time.

Actors and filmmakers were no less outraged. Arrival director Denis Villeneuve (about whom more anon) lambasted the choice, accusing Warner Bros.’ corporate parent, AT&T, of “hijacking one of the most respectable and important studios in film history” and exhibiting “absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience.” The Dark Knight and Tenet director Christopher Nolan, who had been on the Warners lot for nearly two decades, opted to make his next film at Universal, his dissatisfaction over the HBO Max move playing no small role in his switch. 

In some cases, the talent was so incensed it went to court. The most notable example was Scarlett Johansson. Her Marvel film Black Widow was one of those offered on Disney+ for an additional fee, and she sued the House of Mouse on the grounds that…

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