OMG! WB is debuting all 2021 movies on HBO Max starting with Wonder Woman 1984

This is big news and what it could mean for Movie Theaters? I am all about this. Hopefully this remains the permanent way they do business. Glad I have HBO Max and the streaming war takes a crazy turn while leaving the Theatres in the dust. Next year is gonna be quite interesting to see how this unfolds. No doubt Disney+ will follow suit. That said, I was gonna watch WW 1984 on HBO Max anyway.

(The link below is the full story)

Warner Bros Sets Entire 2021 Movie Slate To Debut On HBO Max Along With Cinemas In Seismic Windows Model Shakeup

WarnerMedia didn’t have to wait until Wonder Woman 1984 debuted both on HBO Max and in theaters: The Burbank, CA based studio is putting its entire 2021 theatrical slate on HBO Max for their respective first month of release, concurrent with a global cinema release. After a one month access period for the pics on HBO Max,

Following the one month HBO Max access period domestically, each film will leave the platform and continue theatrically in the U.S. and international territories, with all customary distribution windows applying to the title.

And get a load of what you’ll be able to see in-home next year: Denzel Washington’s The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad, Reminiscence, Malignant, Dune, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard, Cry Macho and Matrix 4.

This morning’s release reads, “The hybrid model was created as a strategic response to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic.” No movie theater or major exhibitor — and I mean no movie theater, no matter what press release of happiness they put out after this– can be content with this. After exhibition busted their butts to get open for Tenet, this is how Warner Bros. repays them?

Clarifies and assures Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Group Carolyn Blackwood, “This is a temporary 2021 plan.”

Exhibitors, like AMC, may perceive this model as some sort of manna from heaven (go figure). As my mother-in-law says, “There’s no such thing as a coincidence” and well, what do you know? AMC has 200M shares up for sale as of today. Buzz hit on Thanksgiving eve that WarnerMedia shoved off a $200M bid by Netflix for Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong so that they could make a play at putting the movie on HBO Max. Warners denied that, saying the pic was committed to theatrical. That was only half true.

Today’s announcement was made today by Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group (of which Warner Bros. is part) and Jason Kilar, CEO, WarnerMedia.

There were murmurs at rival studios that WarnerMedia was going to drop a bombshell — no one knew it would be this big. Even some of the creators close to the movies, I can tell you, weren’t in the fold on this decision (except those with financial stakes). This is clearly a top down corporate decision as the the conglom bets aggressively on HBO Max, which hasn’t been an immediate triumph out of the gate. The new streaming service’s hurdle has been distribution with only 8.6 million accounts activated, but another 28.7 million not switched on even though there’s no-cost HBO Max access to current HBO subscribers. Third-party distribution has also been a bottleneck, though the company recently reached a deal with Amazon Fire TV. Roku, which has 46 million active accounts, is another top-tier streaming venue where HBO Max is not yet available.

Many are expecting that Wonder Woman 1984 will already lose money, with financial analysts in the know saying that the $200M DC sequel will need to do 40% more than Tenet‘s current global take of $357.8M to hit breakeven. “If Wonder Woman 1984 does Tenet numbers, it will lose money,” one industry insider told Deadline recently.

Well, here’s an entire annual theatrical slate which will trade in any possibility of a domestic box office comeback for sheer subscriber numbers — that is, if they come. This is a hedged bet that a COVID-19 vaccine is not coming soon enough to quell numbers and reopen cinemas. This despite all the headlines about one, and Pfizer, and the Dow’s recent aggressive upswing in response to the upbeat headlines. However, Warners believes that the pipeline is getting clogged, and the ecosystem needs to

“We’re living in unprecedented times which call for creative solutions, including this new initiative for the Warner Bros. Pictures Group,” said Sarnoff in a statement. “No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do. We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021. With this unique one-year plan, we can support our partners in exhibition with a steady pipeline of world-class films, while also giving moviegoers who may not have access to theaters or aren’t quite ready to go back to the movies the chance to see our amazing 2021 films. We see it as a win-win for film lovers and exhibitors, and we’re extremely grateful to our filmmaking partners for working with us on this innovative response to these circumstances.”

“After considering all available options and the projected state of moviegoing throughout 2021, we came to the conclusion that this was the best way for WarnerMedia’s motion picture business to navigate the next 12 months,” said Kilar. “More importantly, we are planning to bring consumers 17 remarkable movies throughout the year, giving them the choice and the power to decide how they want to enjoy these films. Our content is extremely valuable, unless it’s sitting on a shelf not being seen by anyone. We believe this approach serves our fans, supports exhibitors and filmmakers, and enhances the HBO Max experience, creating value for all.”

“This hybrid exhibition model enables us to best support our films, creative partners and moviegoing in general throughout 2021,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group in a statement. “We have a fantastic, wide ranging slate of titles from talented and visionary filmmakers next year, and we’re excited to be able get these movies in front of audiences around the world. And, as always, we’ll support all of our releases with innovative and robust marketing campaigns for their theatrical debuts, while highlighting this unique opportunity to see our films domestically via HBO Max as well.”

It’s going to be great to see what the fallout is here for both WarnerMedia, exhibition — and other streaming players like Amazon and Netflix in the next year. Netflix has been keen about closing the window, and always ran into headwinds when trying to make a deal with big exhibition. The HBO Max deal changes everything.

Will Disney following WarnerMedia’s lead here and dump the entire frosh Marvel movies on Disney+? How does exhibition come out of this? When Cineworld/Regal reopens, will they even play Warner Bros.’ titles?

Was finishing listening to a podcast about it and was about to make a thread. This is indeed a seismic shift, things have been trending this way but now we can start talking about, perhaps, the beginning of the end.

It doesn't affect me personally, I have written about how I don't go to the theaters anymore, but I like the idea of theaters existing and readily available for whenever I choose to go back (ha, fat chance).

Since 2017 these are movies I have seen on theaters:

• 2017: Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
• 2018: 0
• 2019: Joker
• 2020: 0 (of course)

So big news indeed.

In this day and age I think they should be releasing movies on steam at the same time.

I seen this earlier, and I'm very surprised that this is going to happen. As much as I used to love going to the theater, the experience has gotten to be so bad over the last few years, I stopped going altogether before the pandemic hit. Now, I can't wait for the films to be releases.

Make you wonder what the response is going to be from other studios. Is Disney still gonna charge money for theatrical releases on their streaming service going forward?

The theater experience of old is long gone and it was a special one. Now as it stands, there is no compelling argument why watching a movie in a cinema is better than at home. Technology has caught up with what once was unable to be replicated. Hollywood and the theaters never changed with the times or made the experience an unforgettable one.

There are so many theaters that look like absolute shit. Terrible seating, terrible smell, crappy sound system.

Why do I want to pay $20 for an inferior experience? Barely AMC is making innovation with the theaters here and that was just last year. A day late and a dollar short.

Everything is going digital it seems not against it at all but it feels a bit weird times are changing.

@warmblur: We will have VR cinemas i'm guessing.

We already do, but it's early stuff.

Funny you say that I was thinking of mentioning VR cinema in my post. But yeah once VR headsets become small enough to feel comfortable to sit through a whole movie along with great picture quality and no glare it really could change things for the mainstream especially when it's affordable. Even with my old Rift I can kinda get a feel of that old theater experience at times.

@warmblur: Yes, and it also has the added social aspect of specifically selecting who is at the cinema with you.

@Solaryellow: @hallenbeck77: I love going to the movie theater to watch films. Easily one of my top hobbies besides video games, the experience and immersion is just to much of a pro for me to only want to see new movies at home that is, until now. This year, I only saw just Sonic the Hedgehog & Tenet only in theaters but the rest was streaming. All my life, I have never set up a movie theater in my house, guess what, it's time. Next year, I'm gonna turn my living room into a theater room so this is a new year resolution for me. Build a movie theater in my home and my Wife will love it as we both enjoy watching movies on the weekend. I don't want to see movie theaters go the way of Blockbusters, but the pandemic isn't going away soon, this is more friendly consumer thing to get more people staying home. Looks like home cinema tools will become more popular.

Disney+ tried with Mulan $30 despite you already have Disney+ it was an experiment and didn't end well for Disney as it wasn't making profit. WB knew this wasn't going to work for there part and just announcing this makes them to try it first but I can see this being successful on WB part.

$14.99 per month for HBO Max but let's use $12 as its a common sale price and the cost if paid annually. Currently there are 28 million HBO Max subs. If this move drives sub numbers to 60 million, hardly unattainable, that would mean that it makes $8.64 billion in sub revenue. How much would all these movies, even in a normal year, make at the box office, where WB only takes an ~60% cut of BO revenue? 16 movies, would they combine to make $14.4 billion in BO revenue? No chance in hell. So 60 million subs alone makes more then the box office ever could hope for.

In short, Disney is left with either embrace HBO Max friendly consumer practice for a fair price or go stupid overcharging who are already Diseny+ members? We still don't have an actual release date for Black Widow and knowing Disney, there's only so much you can delay a movie this long cause they still need to pay people back.

One thing to note is that so far this is only for 2021 and then they will evaluate to decide whether to continue with this model.

@davillain-: Would love to see your setup once its all done. If I'm lucky, sometime within the next year or so, we may get a new TV, and I'm always curious on how people set up their systems.

I do miss going to theaters, but with my anxiety, I cannot deal with rude crowds anymore. Unless a Alamo Drafthouse opens in Honolulu, the only options are Regal, and a chain called Consolidated Amusements--and neither one isn't worth the effort. The home setup sounds great, but it's gonna be awhile before that happens.

AMC crying like a bunch of babies when they should be trying to innovate.

The American public (and I don't know, maybe the rest of the world?) have been wanting an alternative to expensive, subpar theater experiences for years--theaters have been struggling for a long time, iirc--and now that one has finally happened, theaters are freaking out.

I look forward to the franchises going out and independent theaters becoming a thing again, showing obscure movies, good movies, and more drive-in theaters too!

And of course being able to stream new movies as well.

Everything will be digital sooner or later even if i don’t support it. I can see why companies do it subscription is secured income its the future

this. also cost of movies now. its not theater fault. straight up studio issue.

Yeah, like theatres were already struggling before Covid-19 came into the fray, they really need to revamp their business model in order to survive. Hopefully the pandemic will put things into perspective for the powers that be and they'll make some positive changes.

Wonder if this means super wide (scope) aspect ratios will die out.

Blame the studios and not the theaters.

Are there screenshots of HBO Max playback anywhere? I've looked. I wanna know if the quality is as bad as Netflix. I still haven't bought one movie digitally. I will get My Fair Lady on iTunes if the new master doesn't come out on UHD disc.

Will probably wait until Matrix 4 comes out on UHD disc, assuming it doesn't embarrass itself. But I may make an exception and watch it in a cinema. I liked all the Matrix movies but never watched a single one in a cinema, partly because we were poor and didn't have a car. Might not be too bad if it's one of the last movies I ever watch in a cinema. I don't want it to be the mediocre Rise of Skywalker. I rarely went before the pandemic.

The internet service providers really need to up bandwidth limits if we're gonna get better quality streams. I can't even find a reasonably priced alternative option with high speed and more data because they simply buy out the competition or pay each other to stay out of each other's areas, from what I understand.

https://i.ibb.co/L15Bc4R/Blade-Runner-The-Final-Cut-t00-mkv-snapshot-01-10-15-819.png

If I could get the same fine detail from a stream, I'd blow through my one terabyte in a matter of days.

Curious about what kind of look keanu will get for Matrix 4. He would look odd in clean shaved look today.

We already know. Long hair and beard, since he also has to do John Wick.

Still kind of annoyed that yet another sequel is resurrecting the dead.

Going to the movies was a great experience but AFAIC the theaters have not done much in the past many years compelling me to spend good money at these establishments. Some of the reasoning has to do with technology, complacency, etc.., but the experience doesn't seem worth the time and money.

@ezekiel43 said:

@ghosts4ever said:

Curious about what kind of look keanu will get for Matrix 4. He would look odd in clean shaved look today.

We already know. Long hair and beard, since he also has to do John Wick.

Still kind of annoyed that yet another sequel is resurrecting the dead.

Good. this is the keannu we need today. or in case neo.

He would look terrible in clean shaved look as he was young back in matrix day it worked. it wouldnot worked now.

@ghosts4ever said:

@ezekiel43 said:

@ghosts4ever said:

Curious about what kind of look keanu will get for Matrix 4. He would look odd in clean shaved look today.

We already know. Long hair and beard, since he also has to do John Wick.

Still kind of annoyed that yet another sequel is resurrecting the dead.

Good. this is the keannu we need today. or in case neo.

He would look terrible in clean shaved look as he was young back in matrix day it worked. it wouldnot worked now.

I don't know what he looks like clean-shaven and short-haired, but I agree that this is better for the new movie. It makes Neo look more aged and changed.

I'm curious about Trinity. She's no longer wearing full leather. Did they figure people don't wanna see that on a middle-aged woman or is she not quite the same person as the one who died? Or, are they all dressing more relaxed and less rebellious now because there are no agents?

The bike and getup also make me think this won't just be in the city again.

It's BS that Fishburne isn't in the new Matrix.

Unless it takes place in the distant future. Who says Neo and Trinity's reincarnations or copies or whatever have to materialize in the (then) present?

I read somewhere that Neo and Trinity aren't even the main characters. Don't know the basis for that. Would find that a relief, though, because dead characters being revived as supporting characters is less annoying to me than main characters never dying and staying mains. What's the point of anything if the characters' deaths are undone and they are never in any real danger? I don't mean just The Matrix, but movies in general.

I see your point but I just have a bad feeling this movie is going to suck really hope I'm wrong.

Morpheas was star of old matrix. a mentor of Neo. I cant imagine Matrix without him.

also no Agent smith. better stick to John wick series which remain consistent in quality.

Lol, why would Neo need a mentor? Maybe Neo should now be mentoring in some capacity.

As much as I liked the character, Agent Smith returning would annoy me to no end, and I'm sure I'm not alone. He was infected by Neo, who was then destroyed in order to utterly destroy Smith.

The new Star Wars trilogy was so disappointing and weak partly because the filmmakers recycled so much from the original trilogy.

Neo definitely doesnot neet morpheas as mentor but as friend because he was major character of Matrix universe.

If not agent smith then who is going to be a villain now?

Kinda sucks for me since I don't have HBO Max in my country :(

@hankmulder: no sweat, this only applies to the US... also all hbo streaming services in EU will be converted to hbomax sometime in 2021, we still won’t get the movies at release though

I’m not a fan of this move. I love the theater experience. When in a nice auditorium with properly tuned video and audio, a well behaved audience, and watching the latest blockbuster filmed with the latest technology, nothing can match the experience. I have a 5.2.4 media room with a 4K shift projector and while it’s awesome, it’s not the same as an amazing theater showing.

But one benefit is that this move puts pressure on Disney, Universal, and Paramount to respond. Competition is always good for the consumer.