'The Sopranos' creator is 'extremely angry' his prequel movie is premiering on HBO Max the same time it's in theaters: 'It was designed to be a movie'

Jason Guerrasio
Updated ·2 min read
'The Sopranos' creator is 'extremely angry' his prequel movie is premiering on HBO Max the same time it's in theaters: 'It was designed to be a movie'
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  • Chase said he never thought HBO would be the first place people would see his "Sopranos" prequel.

  • "People should go see it in a theater," he told Deadline. "It was designed to be a movie."

  • "The Many Saints of Newark" is available in theaters and on HBO Max October 1.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

"The Sopranos" creator David Chase is not holding his tongue when it comes to his thoughts on "The Many Saints of Newark," the prequel to his iconic TV series, getting released on HBO Max at the same time it premieres in theaters.

"Extremely angry," Chase told Deadline when asked about his thoughts on the movie's day-and-date release. "And I still am."

Fourteen years after HBO aired the polarizing finale of the show that looked inside the life of Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) and his mafia empire, Chase, who is the co-screenwriter and one of the producers of the movie, admits he never imagined the cable channel would be where people would watch the prequel film for the first time.

david chase sopranos
"The Sopranos" creator David Chase. Paul Hawthorne/Getty

"If one of those executives was sitting here and I was to start pissing and moaning about it, they'd say, 'You know, there's 17 other movies that have the same problem. What could we do? Covid!' Well, I know, but those 16 other movies didn't start out as a television show," Chase said.

"They don't have to shed that television image before you get people to the theater. But we do," he continued. "And that's where we're at. People should go see it in a theater. It was designed to be a movie."

He added: "It's beautiful as a movie. I never thought that it would be back on HBO. Never."

"The Many Saints of Newark" follows Tony Soprano (played by Gandolfini's son, Michael) as a young teen growing up in Newark, New Jersey, as he observes the bloody war among mafia families going on in the city around him.

The movie also stars Alessandro Nivola, Ray Liotta, Vera Farmiga, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, and Corey Stoll. It will be in theaters and available on HBO Max on October 1.

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