Warner Sending Entire 2021 Slate to HBO Max and Theaters.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

All the usual suspects with the usual comments in here. The cinema is not dead all we are seeing here is desperation from a company that are simply not at the races right now. Something like 8.6 million subscribers for HBO Max when Disney are hitting 80 million and Netflix comfortably more than double that.

Some people are also missing the fact that without the cinema, most of these mega blockbusters will slowly die off. That’s not speculation, it’s fact.
Some people are celebrating a short term gain against a long term devastation. I think you need to look at yourselves in a mirror if you call yourselves film fans.

Final note, HBO Max don’t even have 4K! It’s like having a economy burger when a top class steakhouse is 100 yards away.

They will have 4k starting with Wonder woman.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Why wouldn't they? They will be released under the new Warner/Universal physical media deal which starts first quarter 2021.

Hope so! I have no intention of getting the HBO streaming service, and theaters are closing up around here, so this will be my way of watching these films.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by captveg

I don't see it hurting the production values of the visual effects for The Mandalorian.

Disney spends a LOT more on one episode of The Mandalorian, F/X wise, than the CW likely spends on half-a-season of The Flash. If The Mandalorian looked like Legends Of Tomorrow or something, it wouldn't be nearly as popular.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by farerb

And people blamed Disney for killing theaters.

As John Lennon felt about Paul McCartney breaking up The Beatles, they're just mad cuz someone else beat 'em to it.

Di$ney aren't suddenly saints because other companies are also acting a fool.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Sure just like plenty of people think the earth is flat, the moon landing never happened nor did the Holocaust.

Stupidity knows no bounds!

Agreed. (Twice now!)

[captveg]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Hope so! I have no intention of getting the HBO streaming service, and theaters are closing up around here, so this will be my way of watching these films.

The home video market you are a part of will continue to get more and more niche, but most studios will still bring their most popular product to you via discs for the foreseeable future. In some ways it makes it easier. For example, a lot of the recent Warner Archive BDs are because they prioritized certain films to get remasters for HBO Max. and then they made BDs as a supplement revenue stream for the video collector market.

If shows like Doom Patrol are getting Blu-ray releases then these 2021 films are getting Blu-ray releases. Many will also get UHD releases, such as the DC films and other genre films that sell on home video (Dune, GvK).

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

My concern is the physical market. Will these films get Blu-ray/4K releases? I guess we'll have to see with Wonder Woman.

Of course - they will still follow the same traditional home media physical release model. These movies aren’t going to be exclusive to HBO Max like Netflix films - they will go to theaters and HBO Max simultaneously and then to on-demand and physical release. Regardless of what people say, there is still money to be made on physical releases, especially with blockbusters. They won’t say no to that money.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Agreed. (Twice now!)

Trust me, I just about back a heart attack the last time I agreed wholeheartedly with Lee. 2020 is full of surprises!

[JayTL]

This will probably be buried in this thread, but Maybe Disney doesn't see this move as worth it? It's possible this is a desperation move on AT&T/WB's part to get more subscribers for their stock holders. If this fails, this could be the end of WB, AT&T etc.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Disney spends a LOT more on one episode of The Mandalorian, F/X wise, than the CW likely spends on half-a-season of The Flash. If The Mandalorian looked like Legends Of Tomorrow or something, it wouldn't be nearly as popular.

Sure, but your fear was seemingly that all mega blockbusters with such visual effects polish will disappear. There may be less of them, but they are still going to be many. We won't even see the effects of this until at least 2023 because all the majors have finished films or films in production for 2021-2022 already that will have this high quality of work in them.

[hudson4k]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Agreed. (Twice now!)

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Trust me, I just about back a heart attack the last time I agreed wholeheartedly with Lee. 2020 is full of surprised!

I don't frequent the movie section, but I feel like I should after reading these posts. People like Lee and slimdude are what makes these forums fun

[BIGRED1977]

I'm just glad they are releasing stuff cause here in Australia, cinemas are open and waiting for new releases

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Lot of alarmism going around.

Alarmists have a much better record this year. The people who predicted this a long while ago got trashed, as did many other "naysayers" on various other 2020 issues. I'd say non-alarmists might wanna start putting up some points on the board, but we're in an era of goal-post moving anyway. So f**k it. Enjoy the show.

[Lee A Stewart]

https://displaydaily.com/article/pre...se-by-71-in-q3

People are buying bigger TVs for their homes because they are spending more time there. That will have an adverse effect on theater admissions when the pandemic is over.

[CreasyBear]

Lol. MCU eye candy. You mean flat lifeless sourballs.

[Hardback247]

The biggest TV I'm able to afford is a 58".

[hudson4k]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

[Show spoiler]

https://displaydaily.com/article/pre...se-by-71-in-q3

People are buying bigger TVs for their homes because they are spending more time there. That will have an adverse effect on theater admissions when the pandemic is over.

If you look at the ratio on that graph people are essentially buying the same size TVs, it's just that more TVs are being purchased which is to be expected.

[Rodney-2187]

Originally Posted by captveg

I don't see it hurting the production values of the visual effects for The Mandalorian.

There may be pullback on budgets and less mega blockbusters than before (though we still have a couple years worth of such films in the pipeline), but they will still exist. Someone will want that sweet upsell money from IMAX screenings for the enthusiasts.

The Mandalorian looks better than a lot of movies.

[captveg]

Interesting comment from HBO Max's Jason Kilar in that Deadline interview and my theater owning friend's response to it on our FB group:

JK: “Because of the situation we’re in and the fact that we’re going to invest a considerable amount in marketing, which is unusual to do in the middle of a pandemic. And by marketing, I mean money which benefits the theatrical experience; a considerable marketing budget for each and every film that will be coming out over the next 13 months, and we believe that the marketing investment works better if eyes were out there talking about these great films title-by-title-by title.”

TOF: Theaters have been getting a free ride on marketing for decades, it makes alllll the sense that the studios will utilize the marketing spend to get as many eyes on the product during that marketing push as possible.

[Traditionally], the theaters create an entire distribution scheme for the studios, the studios provide the content and marketing, and hopefully everybody makes gobs of money on hit movies.

Which is part of why it was seen as such a betrayal for Disney not simply to put movies direct to D+ but to not even make Mulan and Soul available theatrically.

Warner is being a good friend to theatrical here because AT&T would rather they skip theatrical completely and just make this a play to pump up HBO Max numbers. And the chatter is that Warner will be offering very favorable terms, somewhere in the 30-35% range to theaters during the time the film is available on HBO Max as well. Which I’ve argued for, close windows and give theaters better terms and everything will be fine.

[Rodney-2187]

Originally Posted by creasybear

lol. Mcu eye candy. You mean flat lifeless sourballs.

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