John Stephens, the outgoing CFO of WarnerMedia parent AT&T, defended the company’s move to release its 2021 film slate concurrently on HBO Max and in theaters and cited Warner Bros. century-long relationship with Hollywood talent — with some disgruntled at the move and the way it was communicated. “We’ve got a long history of working
HBO Max
The first weekend of the year, which at its apex in 2016 grossed $219.5M off the heat of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, registered under an estimated $13M for the entire weekend in a continued decimated exhibition marketplace that’s praying to reopen in 2021. Warner Bros.’ theatrical release of Wonder Woman 1984, which is also available on
It’s historically been a week when we’re reporting on Star Wars movies doing a daily box office average of $20M, but in this distressed Covid environment where 60% of all U.S. and Canadian theaters are closed, we have only to highlight that Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman 1984 did an estimated $22.5M in its first week. Eeesh. Now
The Patty Jenkins-directed DC sequel has grossed more than $100M worldwide according to Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984 opened to $16.7M domestic last weekend in the U.S. and Canada where 60% of 5,5k theaters are shutdown. The film is also available on the studio’s streaming service HBO Max which is only available stateside, but will expand
As pollyannaish as it sounds, especially as the domestic 2020 box office crumbles to a historic all-time low of $2.27 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic, the global theatrical business is poised for a comeback in 2021. However, it might take a few months. How in God’s name can such a ridiculous projection be forecasted?
Sunday AM Update: Refresh for more analysis and chart We’ll have to wait and see what success WarnerMedia drums up in regards to Wonder Woman 1984‘s outcome on HBO Max, but from a box office perspective over Christmas with 60% of the 5,8K theater domestic market closed due to COVID, it posted better 3-day numbers than
Warner Bros. isn’t reporting any official box office results for Wonder Woman 1984 on its opening Christmas Day –which various sources tell us was record-worthy for the pandemic stateside, disastrous by normal marketplace conditions– but various HBO Max users are taking to social media, in particular the @HBOMaxHelp Twitter handle to voice their grievances over either streaming
Warner Bros. is doing a minor massage to its release schedule for 2021. New Line’s Mortal Kombat, which I hear isn’t finished, is going on April 16, 2021 instead of Jan. 15. The Simon McQuiod directed feature adaptation of the videogame will have access to Imax screens. In response to the move, Warners is talking Westworld co-creator Lisa
Refresh for more analysis, chart, etc. Even in a normal, healthy economy, the major studios are typically skittish about opening big movies before Christmas with many busy with holiday activities, so it comes as no surprise during a pandemic where just north of 40% of all 5,500 domestic movie theaters are open that there wouldn’t
EXCLUSIVE: CAA is the latest to blast WarnerMedia on its decision to place its entire 17-film slate on HBO Max at the same time the films are released in U.S. theaters in 2021. Sources said that at an agency staff meeting, CAA president Richard Lovett read aloud a letter that he sent to WarnerMedia CEO
Even though a combined 100 movie and TV series titles were announced today during Disney Investor Day, with 80% of them going to Disney+, let it be noted that the Burbank, CA studio didn’t burn down its 2021 theatrical release schedule, like WarnerMedia did last week, in order to keep the fire going on its
Can cinemas play day-and-date releases from Warner Bros after continually refusing to show Netflix films? The big circuits have to be feeling really stupid now: If they had only made a deal with Netflix last year on Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman at a 45-day window instead of emphatically rejecting one, perhaps this looming apocalypse brought on
Editors’ Note: Michael Shamberg is a tenured film and TV producer whose credits include Contagion, Get Shorty, The Big Chill, Erin Brockovich, Out of Sight, Pulp Fiction, A Fish Called Wanda and many others. With the Warner Bros announcement that all its 2021 films will premiere online at the same time as in theaters, it’s
Christopher Nolan, who was doing consumer press interviews today for the DVD release of Tenet, was asked about that movie’s film studio, Warner Bros., and their recent radical windows plan to drop their entire 2021 slate both in theaters and on their struggling frosh streaming service HBO Max at the same time. It was a
The Independent Cinema Alliance, a volunteer alliance of independent cinemas operating in North America, has responded to WarnerMedia’s theatrical-HBO Max 2021 slate day and date release strategy and they’re not pleased. They’re calling on studio of Stanley Kubrick, Clint Eastwood and Harry Potter to recommit to theatrical exclusivity, for that is what drives value to movies, not
If there’s one weekend at the box office that studios and exhibitors typically have had no thanks for, it’s the post Thanksgiving period, typically the first weekend in December, when business drops by as much as 50%. Last year the Black Friday weekend went from $180.9M led by Frozen 2 to $90.3M during the first frame of
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
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar jumped on the phone today to talk more about the revolutionary theatrical-HBO Max window for the studio’s 2021 slate. That big decision comes strictly down to the pandemic, and the studio aiming to maximize their movies as revenue events on its new streaming service HBO Max, as well as helping those
Refresh for more: AMC Boss Adam Aron has weighed on WarnerMedia’s news about debuting its entire 2021 theatrical release slate simultaneously on HBO Max and he isn’t a happy camper. Wonder Woman 1984 as one-off was fine. However, the chain expects to fight hard when it comes to terms. Here’s what Aron had to say:
Cinemark is the first major exhibitor to weigh in today regarding WarnerMedia’s decision to put their 2021 theatrical slate in both theaters stateside and HBO Max simultaneously. Essentially the No. 3 exhibitor will take it easy as it does, and said the following today via a company rep: “In light of the current operating environment,
There is rumblings tonight that Legendary’s fourthquel Godzilla vs. Kong, scheduled to be released by Warner Bros on the big screen, is in talks to head to HBO Max. Surprise, surprise. THR reports tonight, and we’ve confirmed with sources, that Netflix made a $200M+ offer for the Adam Wingard directed movie, but WarnerMedia blocked it, and
AMC’s Adam Aron isn’t the only one who is happy about WarnerMedia’s decision’s to take Wonder Woman 1984 theatrical day and date on HBO Max. This morning the Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA), which reps North America indie movie theatre owners, exclaimed their support to the Burbank, CA studio and its plans to keep the Gal Gadot-Kristen
EXCLUSIVE: A year ago at this time, a stink was raised by the studios and NATO over Netflix and its audacity to actually crunch the theatrical window with The Irishman. And a deal was on the table with AMC, but in the end the streamer wanted a more limited time in theaters ( far less than
I’m hearing from several exhibition sources that Warner Bros. is going with Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day in theaters and on HBO Max, same day. Warner Bros. would not respond for comment. A screenshot leaked online, and sources say it’s true. This is unprecedented for a big studio tentpole to hit streaming and theatrical at the
A decision from Warner Bros. on Wonder Woman 1984’s Christmas Day theatrical fate is imminent, I hear, either tomorrow or by Monday at the latest. The internet is in a tizzy over a Bloomberg article tonight that the sequel to the $821M-plus grossing 2017 DC hit, which broke several records for women at the box office,
Originally set for an October theatrical release, the Robert Zemeckis-directed Warner Bros. feature Roald Dahl’s The Witches is heading to the studio’s streaming service HBO Max on Oct. 22. The movie, which stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci, is being positioned as Halloween season event programming for HBO Max. Initially, The Witches was scheduled
EXCLUSIVE: Gerard Butler’s latest action thriller Greenland will not be playing at U.S. movie theaters as the pic’s studio ErosSTX pivots the feature for a Premium Video On-Demand release sometime in the fourth quarter. STX will control the PVOD window on the Ric Roman Waugh-directed movie. Additionally, we can tell you first, that HBO has shelled
HBO Max looks to be saving its best originals for the end of the year. The streamer on Wednesday unveiled the first trailer and premiere date for Raised by Wolves. From executive producer Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves centers on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning
Things are getting serious between HBO Max and Love Life. The streamer has announced that it has picked up its first scripted original series Love Life for a second season. HBO Max notes that the romantic comedy anthology series from Lionsgate Television that has quickly become one of the streaming platform’s top performers out of
The Sundance U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Prize winner for Ensemble Acting, Charm City Kings, has been acquired by HBO Max from Sony Pictures Classics. The Angel Manuel Soto-directed movie, which follows a 14-year old who wants to join an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders, was originally expected to open this spring before SPC moved the movie