from Hacker News

Warner Bros. Will Send Entire 2021 Slate to HBO Max and Theaters

by yurisagalov on 12/3/20, 6:44 PM with 303 comments

  • by jedberg on 12/3/20, 9:22 PM

    As a parent, I'm super excited about this. I love going to see movies. My wife and I used to go every week. Until we had kids. In the last six years, I think we've seen maybe two movies in the theater.

    I have however watched every day-of streaming release that's come out, even the ones that cost $30, just to support the idea.

    I would gladly pay $20 to see new movies in my home. My TV and sound are good enough.

    I'd still like to see the big action flicks in the theater, and if I were a teen, I'd still prefer dates in a theater rather than at home, and I'm sure a lot of people feel safer having a date at a theater than at someone's house.

    When the VCR came out, everyone said it would kill moviegoing. To prevent it, they usually waited 4+ years to release a movie on VHS. It turned out, when they shrunk that window to 4 months, it didn't really affect moviegoing.

    I hope they find the same is true here -- that there isn't a lot of overlap between people who want to watch at home and people who will go to a theater.

  • by danso on 12/3/20, 7:54 PM

    It'll be interesting to see how this effects a culture/mindset shift among large movie producers and directors. Putting aside their artistic concerns that their films are best experienced on the massive widescreen, having a big box office haul seems to be a key part of Hollywood braqfests.

    If simultaneous theater+streaming becomes the norm, it would seem the days of multi-hundred-million box office gross will be past. In 2020, the highest grossing film (domestically) so far is the Bad Boys sequel, which released in January and got $204M. The only other 2020 release to break $100M is the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. And many of 2020's top grossing movies were released in late 2019, e.g. "1917" and Star Wars. Even worse, Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" – released in September by Warner Bros – basically bombed at under $60M [0].

    Given the huge movies that WB is planning to put on HBO (Matrix 4, Wonder Woman, Dune), I wonder if that'll spur Disney to throw Black Widow onto streaming. Apparently its Mulan release (which required a premium subscription) didn't do so well, but seems risky for Disney to sit on its hands while WB goes all in.

    [0] https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calen...

  • by slg on 12/3/20, 7:28 PM

    This is sad as it appears to be the beginning of the end of moviegoing as a mainstream pastime. Watching a movie at home simply isn't an equivalent replacement and it has nothing to do with the size of the screen. Going to the theater is a social experience. You simply can't replicate the experience of seeing Captain American catch Thor's hammer in a sold out crowd on opening weekend. Also going to a theater is a purpose driven choice in a way watching a movie at home is not. It allows you to focus all your attention on a movie that simply can't easily be replicated at home.

  • by danhak on 12/3/20, 8:03 PM

    If streaming does indeed come to overtake theaters as the primary distribution method of new releases going forward, I'm curious about how significantly this will upend the industry due to direct competition from classic films.

    For example, the way I purchase and consume a book is identical whether it is a classic or a new release. And my reading habits skew heavily toward classics.

    Same for the way I consume music, and I listen to releases from the 60's - 2000's just as much as new stuff.

  • by Hnaomyiph on 12/3/20, 8:23 PM

    With this seemingly becoming the new norm, I hope streaming services can find a way to make the quality of streams better or offer a way to temporarily download a new movie at a higher quality. Streams still lag behind Blu-ray by quite a margin. Maybe if we could get something between Blu-ray and the DCP files theaters get. Or even just Blu-ray quality would be a greatly appreciated upgrade.

  • by softwaredoug on 12/3/20, 11:05 PM

    HBOMax has such a horrible branding strategy, discovery features, and rollout that I wonder how much this will matter longer term to their subscribers.

    Like HBOMax already has perhaps the largest deepest catalog of movies, yet have struggled to find adopters dues to confusion about all the HBO* and confusion about what even is included in the app due to terrible organization and discovery features.

  • by asciimov on 12/3/20, 8:07 PM

    Hands down the best movie experience I've had was this old refurbished theater in my hometown in the 90's and early 00's. Two weekends each month they showed an old movie. Classics from Casablanca, Laurence of Arabia, Fiddler on the Roof, to The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and War of The Worlds.

    Tickets were $4-5, boxes of popcorn and soda's of reasonable size were a $1-2 each, all movies lead with a cartoon and had an intermission.

    Best of all the ushers. They would kick you out if you made too much noise and wouldn't let you take your seat if you got up too often.

    It's a real shame that movie studios have cut the theaters margin on movies so thin that the theaters can't bring their snack prices down, nor offer a better experience (like kicking people out who can't shut up).

  • by wayanon on 12/3/20, 7:35 PM

    I would see films in cinemas if I could be guaranteed a calm uninterrupted experience. A big problem for me is people talking, using phones etc. I don’t want to spoil their evening either by making a scene I think it’s just I’m no longer a cinema person - and yes I’ve tried art house places too!

  • by totaldude87 on 12/3/20, 8:34 PM

    >>The studio's 2021 slate includes projects such as The Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong and Space Jam: A New Legacy. Other films include Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Reminiscence, Malignant, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard and Cry Macho.

    well this is an impressive line up! i usually take a pass of $20 or go on Tuesdays for movies that are worth $6-$7 , but with $15 for new movies and HBO shows this is a no brainer (YMMV)

    But i do miss the big screen experience , may be cheap home theater ideas will rise up and grant a % of that experience

  • by adrian_mrd on 12/4/20, 5:56 AM

    An important note: this only affects those in the USA - unless HBO Max expands internationally in 2021 - because:

    “HBO Max is currently only supported in the U.S. and supported territories” [1]

    HBO Max has not announced any plans to expand outside of the USA at this stage.

    [1] https://www.hbomax.com/geo-availability

  • by akmarinov on 12/3/20, 7:28 PM

    Torrents everywhere screaming with joy

  • by RcouF1uZ4gsC on 12/3/20, 7:29 PM

    I am super excited about this trend of releasing movies to online services at the same time as theaters.

    I guess I am selfish, but even before the pandemic, I much preferred to watching a movie with my spouse at home on our big screen TV, in our comfortable chairs, with our preferred snacks, with the kids asleep in their bedroom, than having to go through the hassle of finding a babysitter, driving somewhere, paying crazy prices for food and drink, watching a ton of pre-roll ads, and being distracted by the jerk making running commentary next to you.

    Sure the giant screen and sound system are really nice, and worth paying for once in a while. But I am happy that decision is separate from, when do I want to watch the movie.

  • by oleks637 on 12/3/20, 8:06 PM

    What is the point of releasing so many good movies on HBO Max if it is only available is US? Wouldn't it make more sense to first introduce it in more countries and then use these movies to incentivise more subscriptions?

  • by paul7986 on 12/3/20, 7:45 PM

    That's pretty awesome and now Im regretting my Roku TV mounted to my wall.

    I want HBO Max, but thus far only if available on said TV. Yet now with this I might get a Fire stick or a Chromecast.

  • by sto_hristo on 12/3/20, 9:16 PM

    I don't really care what the equation is as long they reap profits enough the keep the wheel going full speed and produce more awesome products. I love the cinema for its grandeur and DB levels and nothing out there can replicate that. True - the frustrations with some trash people is a factor, but so far nothing that extreme to make me even consider ditching the big screen. But i'd settle for anything as longs as there will be more. MORE!

  • by disown on 12/4/20, 3:48 AM

    People seem to be missing the "data" portion of this move. This will boost subscriptions to hbo max which will increase revenue but also bring in data - capturing what,where,when,etc you and your children watch. AMC tried to capture this with their A-list movie pass, but I'm guessing the studios decide to step in front of the movie theater chains with this move. Disney and everyone else with a streaming services are bound to follow warner.

    I'm going to bet this will lead to people upgrading their home theater setup and I'm going to bet TV manufacturers are going to implement more data capturing features. Cameras to watch you watching TV. Where the eyeballs go. Mic to record what people say. Etc.

    The studios are all in trying to be netflix now. And netflix will try to be a studio. And the fracturing of the streaming continues. Until disney buys up everyone...

  • by nondeveloper on 12/4/20, 7:43 AM

    Warner Brothers were pioneers in the implementation of motion picture sound technology in the 1920s with Don Juan and The Jazz Singer, among others [0]. Which is to say the experience of going and seeing movies was shaped by Warner’s risky investments in those technologies when they were new. There are actually allusions to this in Singin’ in the Rain [1].

    [0] https://www.britannica.com/art/history-of-the-motion-picture...

    [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singin'_in_the_Rain

  • by markdown on 12/3/20, 9:01 PM

    What I've wanted most that I haven't seen yet is different versions of movies for different age-groups.

    Like, you could have a Deadpool movie on Netflix that played either a PG-13 or NC-17 version depending on your account settings.

    Basically make clearplay.com obsolete.

  • by bredren on 12/4/20, 2:24 AM

    I wonder if the content was shipped to Netflix, Hulu and Apple.

    This seems to be most tenuous with theater chains, who could seek to punish WB as AMC threatened Universal over the release of Trolls.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/amc-universal-tr...

  • by xwdv on 12/3/20, 7:27 PM

    Might as well. Now the streaming offering will benefit from the same marketing push as the big ticket cinemas, maximizing total revenue.

  • by dekhn on 12/3/20, 9:44 PM

    It's so funny watching a dysfunctional industry take 10 years to catch up with the obvious.

    The next interesting point will be the obvious consolidation and licensing wars when customers get tired of maintaining 4 or 5 streaming licenses.

  • by softwaredoug on 12/3/20, 10:56 PM

    Not everyone has room or space for amazing AV for movies. So I feel sad this will hurt movie theaters. I would much rather be watching Dune safely in a theater than watching in OKish AV at home.

  • by divbzero on 12/4/20, 11:02 PM

    The article leaves out the significant detail that Warner Bros. and HBO Max are both owned by WarnerMedia, the media and entertainment arm of AT&T.

  • by spear on 12/3/20, 9:20 PM

    So when is HBO Max going to start streaming in 4k and HDR?

  • by keyle on 12/3/20, 11:38 PM

    Well. That's sad.

    Time to invest in the home cinemas market!

  • by dylan604 on 12/3/20, 9:52 PM

    Have you seen the content on HBO Max? There's nothing there. It looks like WB is trying to prop up Max.

  • by m1 on 12/3/20, 7:59 PM

    Just hope HBO Max comes to the UK soon!

  • by asah on 12/3/20, 8:55 PM

    Black Friday sales on 75 inch 4k TVs and sound bars => millions of people don't need theaters.

  • by nacho2sweet on 12/3/20, 9:25 PM

    Pirating is back baby, in a big way.

  • by jessaustin on 12/3/20, 9:43 PM

    Despite word of coming vaccines, the company decided to put the entire 2021 slate on HBO Max after consulting with epidemiologists.

    If you care enough about the future to pay experts for advice, you get different answers than e.g. those to which nightly news viewers are subjected. Like Dr. Michael Mina said recently on the Pivot podcast, "Since May, the vaccine has been a month away."