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‘Wonder Woman 1984’ to Debut Both on HBO Max and in Theaters

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  • ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ to Debut Both on HBO Max and in Theaters

    And here it is. At least it's not the worst possible version of this news, which would've been streaming only. I wonder if theaters will try to come up with some special incentives to get HBO subscribers out of the house?

    Audiences will get to see “Wonder Woman” on Christmas Day after all. After much speculation, Warner Bros. announced that the superhero sequel will debut on the streaming service HBO Max on Dec. 25, the same day it will open in U.S. movie theaters.

    Internationally, where HBO Max is not available, “Wonder Woman 1984” will premiere in cinemas one week earlier, on Dec. 16. The film will stream on HBO Max for a month at no additional cost to subscribers.

    “As we navigate these unprecedented times, we’ve had to be innovative in keeping our businesses moving forward while continuing to super-serve our fans,” said Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures. “This is an amazing film that really comes to life on the big screen and, working with our partners in the exhibition community, we will provide that option to consumers in the U.S. where theaters are open. We realize that a lot of consumers can’t go back to the movies due to the pandemic, so we also want to give them the option to see Wonder Woman 1984 via our HBO Max platform.”

    The decision is surprising because “Wonder Woman 1984” was expected to be one of the biggest movies of the year and had the potential to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales. Yet the move is not entirely unexpected. “Wonder Woman 1984” was originally supposed to hit theaters this past summer. However, it was delayed numerous times amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many were skeptical that “Wonder Woman” would keep its Christmas Day release date since 50% of U.S. cinemas are closed and people are still hesitant to see a movie in theaters.

    Earlier in the pandemic, Warner Bros. opted to send titles like “Scoob” to premium video-on-demand and “The Witches” to HBO Max. By keeping “Wonder Woman 1984” on the big screen, it gives struggling movie theaters a lifeline.

    “We appreciate how patient audiences have been and given the great anticipation around ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ we are grateful to be able to make this terrifically entertaining movie widely available in these challenging times,” said Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

    Debuting “Wonder Woman 1984” on HBO Max instead of postponing it to 2021 means forgoing substantial box office returns. But the hope is that having a splashy tentpole to offer will drive subscribers to HBO Max, which has struggled to compete against Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.

    Warner Bros. already took a bold bet in launching Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller “Tenet” in September, marking the first major film to release since the pandemic began. But instead of kicking off a large-scale return to the movies, “Tenet” scraped together lackluster ticket sales in North America and deterred major studios from debuting high-profile movies while the world continues to grapple with coronavirus. Though “Tenet” had better results at the foreign box office, the movie is expected to lose many millions. Ideally for Warners, “Wonder Woman 1984” will see a promising turnout from international moviegoers.

    “Wonder Woman” was a massive box office hit in 2017, generating more than $800 million at the global box office in 2017. As one of the rare comic book movies to spotlight a female superhero, it also became a cultural touchstone and solidified itself as one of Warner Bros.’ most important properties.

    The follow-up follows Gal Gadot’s Amazonian warrior during the Cold War as she battles two formidable foes — Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) — while reuniting with her past love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). The cast also includes Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen.

    Patty Jenkins, who directed “Wonder Woman” and the sequel, was bittersweet as she addressed the news on social media.

    “The time has come,” she wrote on Twitter. “At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else. We love our movie as we love our fans, so we truly hope that our film brings a little bit of joy and reprieve to all of you this holiday season.”

    She urged fans to seek out the movie where they feel is safest.

    “Watch it in theaters, where it is made safe to do so (check out the great work theaters have done to make it so!) And available in the safety of your home on HBO Max where it is not,” she said. “Happy holidays to all of you. We hope you enjoy our film as much as we enjoyed making it.”
    https://variety.com/2020/film/news/w...se-1234804411/

  • #2
    Welcome to the future, I guess.

    I wonder if there has been any of that "we'll share the home video gross with the theaters" talk this time around. I doubt it.

    To me the dangerous thing here is, in the US only about 35 million people have HBO Max, compared to about 75 million for Netflix. So this could be a big success BOTH theatrically and at home, considering a lot of folks won't even have the ability to watch it at home. This would lead the studios to say "See? The early home release doesn't hurt the theaters at all!" When in fact it will just hasten the erosion of the business.

    And the worst part is, all of us are going to have to go along with it because we just don't have any choice. We need the damn movie.

    I'd won't be surprised to see just about every movie follow this same path after this, mark my words.

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    • #3
      I still have my HBO channels setup thing thru Amazon Prime. And HBO is still being a dick about that. I keep using Prime because the Prime Video app still works in my ancient Playstation 3 and I can beam a DD 5.1 audio output from that into my old home theater receiver. I can't get HBO Max for my old PS3. Gotta have a PS4 or 5 (and they might not have SPDIF optical audio outputs at all). I don't feel like being a whole new gaming console or AV Receiver just to be able to watch a "Wonder Woman" sequel a bit early.

      Aside from personal concerns, I think this is an act of "crossing the Rubicon" for movie distributors. Are they really that willing to let commercial movie theaters implode? Do they not understand the difficulties that might lay ahead of them?

      In one respect the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presents a perfect opportunity for movie distribution companies to lay waste to theater chain companies. The global pandemic provides all the perfect cover needed to starve commercial theaters of product and put them out of business for good. The movie distributors can wait a while. Then when various property owners and city governments get desperate the movie studios "come to the rescue" by re-opening those theaters under their own branding, showing only their content in a really convenient vertical marketing scheme. The Paramount Consent Decrees are officially done after all. The movie studios can literally adopt a take it or leave it stance.

      But that scenario really hinges on studios judging correctly just how much power, influence and buying lee way the theatrical platform still holds over the American public. IMHO, the movie distributors painted themselves into a pretty awful corner by greedily reducing theatrical release widows. They sped up the life cycle process of a movie to get all the cash they could earn from it faster. Well, the problem today is the general public around the globe has a glut of content to watch. There is so much of it that it is a chore just to keep up. If a movie studio wants to price gouge a premium to watch they increasingly run the risk of audiences everywhere going, "thanks, but I already have too much on my viewing plate as it is."

      Day and date movie releases in theaters and on TV at the same time will only be self destructive for the movie industry. They could only have a slim chance of getting away with such a thing in a content-starved environment. There's too much to watch now. And if TV is going to be the main platform for delivery, most viewers are going to make decisions on when they watch according to their wallets.

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      • #4
        This will also likely be a come-to-Jesus moment for Roku, who still aren't hosting HBO Max on their platform over a financial dispute, they are the last holdout after Amazon caved this week. I don't see myself watching this picture on my phone somehow, so either they get it figured out or its time to switch to FireStick or AppleTV.

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        • #5
          I guess the irresistible force met the immovable object -- those who put up the money to make this thing have probably reached the end of their patience waiting for a return.

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          • #6
            So now it is up to us as an industry to convince people that "in theaters" is the best way to see a movie, and then make sure that it's true. (Which is what we should have been doing all along anyway). We're about to find out how many people actually don't care all that much about quality.

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            • #7
              > We're about to find out how many people actually don't care all that much about quality.

              The problem is that those who do care about quality tend to have awesome home theatre systems, both for picture and sound. Those that don't care were never going out to a theatre for quality presentation. Yes, I know even the best home theatre setups can't match a state of the art theatre presentation, but in a smaller home theatre these home systems are good enough for most.

              As too HBO Max, if you have an android phone you can wifi the picture/sound to most flat screen tv's. If you have an iPhone and a flat screen made in the last few years you can do the same. For older flat screen tv's, if you have an iPhone you can get a lightning to hdmi cable and connect the phone directly to the tv. Clunky, but it works perfectly.

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              • #8
                The reality of home theater is that the owner can "personalize" the sound and picture to what is wanted.

                This is better than the presentation in any calibrated commercial installation because it is "not as good as mine at home!"

                You can simply write that person off your prospective customer list.

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                • #9
                  Funny thing, or rather a bizarre coincidence: a few hours after writing late Wednesday evening post (Thursday A.M. actually) I received an email notice from Amazon. HBO Max is now available to Prime Video customers who subscribe to HBO through Prime Video. But you still have to use the HBO Max app to access various movies and TV shows exclusive to the Max app. They don't know up under the regular HBO section in the Prime Video app. When signing in to the HBO Max app Prime Video customers can use their Amazon login by choosing "Prime Video Channels" when selecting TV or Mobile service provider.

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                  • #10
                    The above post makes me miss the olden days when you could just turn on the TV and turn the knob to select the channel you wanted.

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