WarnerMedia will end its recent practice of simultaneously releasing its movies to theaters and streaming next year, according to CEO Jason Kilar.
"I think it's very fair to say that a big, you know, let's say a big DC movie … it's very fair to say that that would go exclusively to theaters first and then go to somewhere like an HBO Max after it's in theaters," Kilar explained. He went on to add, "There's no doubt that it was bumpy back in early December of last year. If I had the chance to do it over again, I think it's very fair to say that we would have taken a couple more days to see if we could have had even more conversations than we were able to have."
This suggests that upcoming blockbusters such as Matt Reeves' The Batman may premiere exclusively in theaters in 2022.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused extended closings of movie theaters across the world, even pushing AMC Theatres to the brink of bankruptcy, and they are slowly opening with limited capacity in different areas. WarnerMedia opted to release Wonder Woman 1984 to theaters and to stream on HBO Max on Christmas Day 2020. The company later announced it would release all of its films in the same manner in 2021. The decision hurt stock prices for theater chains such as Cinemark, and some filmmakers, like Christopher Nolan, criticized the move.
Source: Vox