Turns out yesterday’s rumors of the release strategy for “Wonder Woman 1984” being a testbed for three more potential future releases along those lines have not only turned out to be true, they grossly underestimated the game changer that Warner Bros. Pictures just announced this morning.
It’s now official – all seventeen films of Warners’ 2021 theatrical release slate will simultaneously debut on HBO Max on the same day they debut in theaters.
That includes big budget high profile features like Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” Lana Wachowski’s “The Matrix 4,” James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights,” the Sopranos-prequel “The Many Saints of Newark,” and the anticipated sequel “Space Jam: A New Legacy”.
There’s also the monster mash “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the third main feature in “The Conjuring” franchise, a reboot of “Mortal Kombat,” the Will Smith-led sports drama “King Richard,” the Denzel Washington-led “The Little Things,” James Wan’s “Malignant,” Clint Eastwood’s “Cry Macho,” the new “Tom and Jerry” film, the historical drama “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Taylor Sheridan’s neo-western “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” and Lisa Joy’s sci-fi tale “Reminiscence”.
Just like with “Wonder Woman 1984,” all films will be available to HBO Max subscribers for one month starting the day they hit cinemas. After that, the films will only continue in cinemas until they reach the traditional home entertainment frame where they can be rented through online platforms like Amazon, iTunes or Fandango.
It’s unclear when any titles will return to HBO Max down the road. The move to simultaneously release movies day-and-date underscores both the crisis facing cinemas and the rising importance of streaming services.
The move is also a huge boost to HBO Max, the struggling service now gets a major shot in the arm which will make an ongoing subscription nearly essential for cinephiles. Timed with this announcement, WarnerMedia has terminated its seven-day free trial offer for HBO Max so there will be no signing up and immediately ditching just to watch one movie.
WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff calls this a “unique one-year plan,” stressing the initiative isn’t expected to continue into 2022 or beyond and is only a temporary solution in response to the ongoing global heath crisis.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
