Jon M. Chu has finally joined the chorus of directors who spoke out against Warner Media’s “Project Popcorn” campaign, during which the company’s entire 2021 slate of films streamed the very same day they premiered in theaters.

Chu’s 2021 musical In the Heights was among several highly anticipated releases that streamed day-and-date on Max in an effort to increase the platform’s subscribers amid the pandemic.

While speaking at CinemaCon Thursday (April 11), Chu noted that, if given the choice, he would have approached creating In The Heights differently had he known it would also have a streaming premiere, as opposed to a theatrical release.

“We would’ve made that choice early,” he said, per IndieWire. “The canvas is important.”

Chu went on to reflect on the theatrical success of Crazy Rich Asians, which netted $239 million in the box office and made stars out of its leads, Henry Golding and Constance Wu.

“When you witness that, you can’t go back,” he said.

Per IndieWire’s reporting, Chu also noted that In The Heights, adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original stage play, was meant to highlight the Latinx community in Washington Heights.

“To see, oh yeah they can get it for free over there, that was hurtful,” Chu said.

He’s not the only director to feel this way. Christopher Nolan famously fell out with Warner Bros. over Project Popcorn and parted ways with the studio in 2021.

He candidly slammed the company’s release strategy at the time, saying, “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.”

But he has since noted that it was “water under the bridge” and mentioned that he would be open to working with Warner Bros again.

In addition to the streaming premiere, In The Heights was also plagued by criticism of its cast ahead of its release.

The creators were accused of colorism after people criticized the film for a perceived lack of Black and Afro-Latinx performers.

In The Heights lead Melissa Barrerra recently spoke out about the film’s disappointing reception, though she did not address the colorism accusations.

“My problem was with the press that came out that just felt mean-spirited toward the film. That was my first big studio movie, and everybody was telling us, ‘Your life is going to change.’ Then it doesn’t happen, so it was very heartbreaking and soul-crushing,” she said.