To borrow the movie trailer language: in a world in which fear stalks our cinemas, where new technology and old business models collide and only the most mammoth franchises survive, a hero will rise. That hero could be Christopher Nolan. Less because of his films – The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises both took $1bn – but because of his latest project: a piece in the Wall Street Journal cautioning against a "bleak future" in which movies are simply "content" to be consumed any place there happens to be a screen. A future in which innovation withers, matinee takings decide whether a film shows again that evening, sleeper hits never exist and cinemas themselves become all about fans and brands. Nolan's narrative succeeds because it mirrors his movies. He offers a vividly alternate reality with which he provokes a response. Whether this story has a happy ending is, he suggests, down to us. But it's coming soon.