Man, everybody wants a piece of Christopher Nolan!
Warner Bros. has had a longstanding relationship with Nolan’s Syncopy which has led to their release of THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy, INCEPTION, and MAN OF STEEL. Nolan’s next project is the science fiction thriller INTERSTELLAR which was set up to be released by Paramount. When the film was announced in January, it was listed as a co-production between Paramount and WB. Since studios rarely seem to get along with this much money in play, how did these two find common ground? Warner Bros. had to give up some franchises to make it happen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount was so locked into making some dough off of Christopher Nolan‘s new film starring Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, and Jessica Chastain that their asking price was pretty steep. In return for getting a significant stake in INTERSTELLAR, WB gave up their rights to the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise (originated at Paramount, rebooted by WB’s Platinum Dunes), a theatrical SOUTH PARK sequel (Comedy Central is owned by Viacom while WB retains rights back from the days when it was known as Comedy Channel. WB retained some rights over the years. Still with me?), and a Paramount stake in a future top level WB film.
While neither studio is commenting, WB has got to be confident in Nolan’s box office returns to give up the rights to two franchises. On the other had, both SOUTH PARK and FRIDAY THE 13TH sequels have been stuck in limbo because of rights split between two studios, so this could have been a card that WB has been holding onto for just a situation like this.
In either case, INTERSTELLAR is amassing quite the buzzy cast and this just goes to prove that Nolan is going to be around for quite a long time. INTERSTELLAR will open on November 7, 2014.
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