How do filmmakers feel about small-screen releases? It varies.

Nolan: “They don’t even understand what they’re losing”

Director Christopher Nolan isn’t keen on Warner Bros.’ plans to release its 2021 slate in a combination of theatrical and streaming options, but “Wonder Woman 1984” filmmaker Patty Jenkins is actually pretty excited about her movie’s hybrid debut on Christmas Day.

“I make films because of communion with audiences,” Jenkins told Siriusxm this week. “That’s the point, you know. And so this is it on such a heightened level.”

She also said movie theater owners had asked that the studio release “Wonder Woman 1984” in areas where people were allowed to attend in person. But at every discussion of the topic, they realized there was “no good time” to debut. What were they waiting for? And did they want to compete with every other movie, if things were released en masse at some future date?

“Wonder Woman 1984,” which is expected to be a blockbuster, has had its release date changed multiple times over the past year.

“I literally gasped a little bit when the pitch for this idea was said, because I was like, ‘The idea of it going into people’s homes on Christmas Day,’” Jenkins said, noting that even though she had approved all the footage, she was still aching to experience the “tone” of “WW84” in its entirety.

“Like, I just want escape,” she said. “I want to watch a movie that takes me away a little bit.”

In Southern California, that can’t happen in a theater right now.

At least some movie theaters were open in 39 states when Nolan’s $200 million “Tenet” showed up on Labor Day weekend. After a $20.2 million opening domestically, the film went on to gross nearly $360 million worldwide.

Nolan, who has a long history working with Warner Bros., blasted the studio’s recent announcement about its 2021 slate, which will pair theatrical openings with a one-month run on sister streaming service HBO Max.

“Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing,” the “Inception” director told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement Monday. “Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”