Warner Sending Entire 2021 Slate to HBO Max and Theaters.

[mwynn]

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

HBO & HBO Max are two different services. You won't find Friends or The Big Bang Theory on HBO.

If you are going to combine the HBO services then you should combine the Disney services too: Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ which gives Disney well over 100 million subs.

I dont think your understanding my comment. I am saying shut down HBO and convert everything over to HBO MAX. Now HBO Max has 64 million subs and just gained an extra 30 million in a year exceeding expectations.

If Disney wanted to combine subs as well they can but they far exceeded their numbers for the year.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by R3P0

I dont think your understanding my comment. I am saying shut down HBO and convert everything over to HBO MAX. Now HBO Max has 64 million subs and just gained an extra 30 million in a year exceeding expectations.

If Disney wanted to combine subs as well they can but they far exceeded their numbers for the year.

I'm pretty sure WM can't just shut down HBO and convert everyone over to HBO Max especially as it's only available in the US. Approx. 40% of your sub count comes from HBO in countries other than the US where HBO Max is not available. For all HBO subs here in the US that are not using a Roku device they have to make the switch themselves. WM can't make it for them. If they could, they would have already done it.

[darkness2918]

This is great news for me as I hated that movies I’ve wanted to see let getting pushed back. Can’t wait to watch Godzilla vs Kong, Mortal Kombat & others . I wish other studios would also do this.

[Britnasty]

Steven Soderbergh AGREES with this move and thinks it will only make the theatrical/studio relationship better

Q: The industry has appeared headed toward a streaming world for some time, and COVID has sped up that transition—highlighted by the recent announcement that Warner Bros. will debut its entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max. Is this the beginning of the end for theaters?

Soderbergh: No. Not at all. It’s just a reaction to an economic reality that I think everybody is going to have to acknowledge pretty soon, which is that even with a vaccine, the theatrical movie business won’t be robust enough in 2021 to justify the amount of P&A you need to spend to put a movie into wide release. There’s no scenario in which a theater that is 50 percent full, or at least can’t be made 100 percent full, is a viable paradigm to put out a movie in. But that will change. We will reach a point where anybody who wants to go to a movie will feel safe going to a movie.

I think somebody sat down and did a very clear-eyed analysis of what COVID is going to do in the next year, even with a potential vaccine, and said, I don’t see this as being workable in 2021. Because let’s be clear: there is no bonanza in the entertainment industry that is the equivalent of a movie that grosses a billion dollars or more theatrically. That is the holy grail. So the theatrical business is not going away. There are too many companies that have invested too much money in the prospect of putting out a movie that blows up in theaters—there’s nothing like it. It’s all going to come back. But I think Warners is saying: not as soon as you think.

Q: Are you worried that once the genie is out of the bottle, it’ll be difficult to put it back in?


Soderbergh: No. I think it’ll finally push the studios and NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) to have some practical and realistic conversations about windowing. Because there needs to be more fluidity. There’s not going to be one template that fits every movie. Every movie is different. You need the flexibility. If you’re in a bad situation, and you’ve got a movie that you opened wide, and you know Friday at 3 p.m. it’s not working, you need to be able to get it on a platform as soon as possible. You spent so much money trying to make this work, and if it didn’t, you should be able to do whatever you want to do. Theaters are going to be pushing you out anyway because you bombed. They’re looking for the next thing that’s going to work. I just think we live in a technological world that allows for fluidity that we’re just not seeing right now. We’re still seeing this broad template that’s supposed to work for everything, and that’s not how it’s going to get solved.

Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/filmma...h-meryl-streep

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by Britnasty

Steven Soderbergh AGREES with this move and thinks it will only make the theatrical/studio relationship better

Well, Soderbergh is an innovator of the day and date release model with Bubble

The cinema can be a daunting or impossible experience for the disabled, chronically ill, immunocompromised, so expanding film access is no bad thing

Good reporting here:

https://www.vulture.com/2020/12/pani...s-sets-in.html

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

The only force getting rid of movie theaters is COVID-19.

Incorrect. The "force" screwing over theaters is the forced closing of theaters by those in charge. Make no mistake. Covid isn’t closing anything on its own. It’s not in charge.

Like most places, they should be able to be open with the proper guidelines in place and safety measures. Then, the people would decide their fate and that’s how it should be. IMO. I still think eventually we’ll get back to normal here within a reasonable amount of time and then we’ll see how this really shakes out.

[JayTL]

Originally Posted by R3P0

I dont think your understanding my comment. I am saying shut down HBO and convert everything over to HBO MAX. Now HBO Max has 64 million subs and just gained an extra 30 million in a year exceeding expectations.

If Disney wanted to combine subs as well they can but they far exceeded their numbers for the year.

It'll be much less.

Because
1. They can't just shut down people paying for HBO solo, because the majority of those get it with their cable service.
2. There are people who get both a subscription to HBO & HBO Max through different means. (I have AT&T TV, which includes an HBO sub/logins to the app [when it was a thing], and HBO Max through my AT&T service)

[Bn43]

Wonder if cinemas being replaced by streaming means very wide (scope) aspect ratios will die out. I mean, almost no one has the right setup for them at home.

[Bn43]

Does this site have any screenshots of HBO Max? I wanna know if the quality is as bad as Netflix.

[JayTL]

Alright, collider isn't working at work. Where am I gonna get my CCXP updates? lol

[Creed]

Originally Posted by JayTL

Alright, collider isn't working at work. Where am I gonna get my CCXP updates? lol

https://t.co/shNwH6kXLS?amp=1

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by Bn43

Wonder if cinemas being replaced by streaming means very wide (scope) aspect ratios will die out. I mean, almost no one has the right setup for them at home.

What? Everyone has a widescreen set at home, and plenty of Netflix exclusives are still shot in the 2.35:1 ratio.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

What? Everyone has a widescreen set at home, and plenty of Netflix exclusives are still shot in the 2.35:1 ratio.

I can attest to that.

[Bn43]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

What? Everyone has a widescreen set at home, and plenty of Netflix exclusives are still shot in the 2.35:1 ratio.

Ultra widescreen TVs are dead and Steam hardware surveys show ultra widescreen monitor users are a pretty small minority as well.



https://store.steampowered.com/hwsur...lcome-to-Steam

The vast majority of TV/streaming shows and movies fill 16:9 or are close. You can list as many examples as you want, but 16:9 is still far more popular for TV/home presentations. I don't see why some studios wouldn't consider changing the presentation after their movies are no longer exhibited theatrically (which is still a ways away, but we're getting there).

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by MattJ1991

If anything, the chance of a Dune sequel is actually much higher now. AT&t has money to burn and desires more content to stand out amongst the streaming crowd. If it came out traditionally, it would simply bomb and the idea of a sequel would be balked at. Now, as long as Dune gets good reception, and some good viewership (which is much more likely considering the fact that people don't have to go out to see it and spend much more money to), AT&t could front the bill for both the sequel and the TV series spin-off.

As of Oct 2, 2020, AT&T had $151.7 Billion in debt. They do not have money to burn.

[mpstjohn]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

As of Oct 2, 2020, AT&T had $151.7 Billion in debt. They do not have money to burn.

So then its WB's money to burn I guess. I don't see them taking out loans to make their movies like MGM did with No Time To Die.

Having checked this seems typical of a lot of these big companies. Apparently, Disney is 41.11 Billion in debt.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by mpstjohn

So then its WB's money to burn I guess. I don't see them taking out loans to make their movies like MGM did with No Time To Die.

Having checked this seems typical of a lot of these big companies. Apparently, Disney is 41.11 Billion in debt.

Yeah, WB laying off thousands of people is a good sign.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

As of Oct 2, 2020, AT&T had $151.7 Billion in debt. They do not have money to burn.

Actually they do. They have $17 billion in cash.

[xbs2034]

Sounds like Legendary might try and legally challenge the move of putting Godzilla vs Kong and Dune on HBO Max day one

https://deadline.com/2020/12/warnerm...ng-1234651283/

I’m hearing that Legendary Entertainment either has or will send legal letters to Warner Bros as soon as today, challenging the decision to put the Denis Villenueve-directed Dune into the HBO Max deal, and maybe Godzilla Vs Kong as well. On the latter, Legendary reportedly had Netflix ready to pull the film from Warner Bros for around $250 million, before WarnerMedia blocked it. Sources said Legendary had no advance notice before last week’s announcement that both Dune and Godzilla Vs. Kong were part of the HBO Max plan.

Legendary certainly seems to have the right to challenge WarnerMedia on its decision: Legendary and its partners provided 75% of the $165 million or so net budget of Dune, the Denis Villenueve-directed adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel that was envisioned to be the first of multiple films exploiting the six-novel series. It put up a similar amount of the funding on the Godzilla Vs. King film. Will the long term viability of the franchises be tarnished by starting out as an HBO Max offering? It’s the same question the industry is asking about Wonder Woman. Legendary wouldn’t comment. I’m told there are three other films that have a right to believe movies they majority financed are being served up to provide a steroid shot to HBO Max’s paid subscriber base by undoing deals that were made for theatrical release and the traditional revenue waterfall