Late last year, Warner Bros. made the surprising announcement that it was going to release every movie it had lined up for 2021 on HBO Max at the same time as it came out in theaters. And lo, movies like Wonder Woman 1984, Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat have all been released like this, helping people who wanted to see these movies but didn’t want to risk going to the theater during the pandemic.
But the decision got a lot of pushback, particularly from creatives upset their movies weren’t going to be theater-only releases. “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,” fumed Christopher Nolan. “Warner Bros.’ sudden reversal from being a legacy home for filmmakers to the new era of complete disregard draws a clear line for me,” said Dune director Denis Villeneuve.
Dune has been an especially contentious issue, with Warner Bros. and producer Legendary fighting back and forth about whether it will get a theatrical-only release. The other day, Deadline made waves when it reported that, according to sources, Dune will “premiere in Venice in September and then enter theaters for a time before finding its way to streaming service HBO Max.” Did Legendary win?
If you listen to Warner Bros., no. Johanna Fuentes, head of communications at WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, quickly shot down the report on Twitter, saying simply, “Dune will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day in the US.”
#Dune will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day in the US. (Source: Warner Bros.) https://t.co/SiFpbz0nK2
— Johanna Fuentes (@jfuentes) May 17, 2021
To be fair, Deadline also reported that Warner Bros distribution chief Jeff Goldstein has said that they’re still planning to release Dune in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time. I guess it comes down to who you believe: Warner Bros. or Deadline’s sources, and bear in mind that Deadline does have a history of being well-connected.
Movie studios get back to normal release schedules as pandemic recedes
That said, I certainly hope that Warner Bros. is right. Deadline writers have a history of arguing in favor of theatrical-only distributions, and I can’t help but wonder…why? I’ve loved the HBO Max-theater hybrid release model. I wouldn’t have gone to see a movie like Mortal Kombat in theaters but I was happy enough to stream it at home. And I probably would have gone to see Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters but after watching it I’m glad I didn’t make the trip. The move has been good for the movie-going public, has greatly increased HBO Max subscriptions, and the movies have still pulled in respectable numbers at the box office anyway. What’s not to like?
Plus, Warner Bros. has already made clear that it’s going back to giving theaters exclusive runs of movies next year (although the windows will be shorter, which I support). That makes sense as we continue to recover from the pandemic. For instance, Disney has announced that it’s releasing movies like Free Guy and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings directly into theaters without also releasing them on Disney+ at the same time. Things are getting back to normal, but there’s no putting the genie back into the bottle completely, and I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s a good genie.
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