HBO Max launched

[Username taken]

Because they will seriously need to keep every single one they get from the looks of the bridges they are burning.

Exactly.

I think AT&T were rather hasty here.

Covid-19 has blown up here but with the vaccines coming, life could be restored to normal sooner than expected.

[Username taken]

Ultimately, the fans will decide.Two questions will determine the outcome.
1. Will enough people be willing to go back to the theaters?
2. Will the streaming service get enough monthly subscribers?

I don't think this up to fans in this case.

Legendary and some WB partners might take legal action. There's a real possibility that movies like Kong vs Godzilla might NEVER even come to the service the way things are going.

[mortari]

We found out that they didn't order enough vaccine for every one that wants it. It will be next summer before we can really start wave 2 of the distribution and it will take 3 months complete vaccination and booster shot.
I don't plan on sitting in an enclosed room for 2+ hours with strangers for the next 7 months.

[ComicJunkie21]

We found out that they didn't order enough vaccine for every one that wants it. It will be next summer before we can really start wave 2 of the distribution and it will take 3 months complete vaccination and booster shot.
I don't plan on sitting in an enclosed room for 2+ hours with strangers for the next 7 months.

Herd immunity needs to also be caculated in the return to normalcy as that also accelerates it. Also, let's be realistic, ATT always planned to do something like this they're just using the pandemic as an excuse. However, it's been a major backfire because the way the entertainment industry functions is not the same way the telecommunications industry functions and they are making all the wrong moves and have been for years.

Anyone recall Direct tv, u-verse, and att tv? All those were utter failures due to poor execution and knowledge of consumer market. WarnerMedia will be no different unfortunately, that much is painfully clear now. They will keep selling WarnerMedia in parts until there is nothing left and it will be a shell of its former self.

I am also seeing articles saying that the high debt load of 150 billion is tanking Att stocks so they are getting desperate for money.

[luprki]

I don't think this up to fans in this case.

Legendary and some WB partners might take legal action. There's a real possibility that movies like Kong vs Godzilla might NEVER even come to the service the way things are going.

If enough fans don’t go back to theaters, streaming will take over or
If enough fans don’t subscribe to streaming, that’s good for the theater.
The fans will ultimately control the studios decision.

As far as lawsuits, these movies are WB properties and they have the right to release their movies as they see fit.Whether that’s theaters or streaming or same day on both.

[WebLurker]

10characters

[ComicJunkie21]

If enough fans don’t go back to theaters, streaming will take over or
If enough fans don’t subscribe to streaming, that’s good for the theater.
The fans will ultimately control the studios decision.

As far as lawsuits, these movies are WB properties and they have the right to release their movies as they see fit.Whether that’s theaters or streaming or same day on both.

This is not true. WB cannot do whatever they want because they are not the full owners of the content actually and the legalities in the strategy and how it affects backend compensation and how they 'negotiated a fee with HBO Max' is questionable and complex. While change can happen it can also be halted when laws and infrastructure are not yet ready. There are too many questions still not answered for us to even know if what has occurred is even legal or if it breaks any contractual agreements with third parties.

Unless you're a lawyer who knows about entertainment law we may not know much more until the lawsuits start rolling in and the details of contractual agreements and legal defenses are stated. I will say from the little we've seen, I think that the actors, theaters, and others may have a good case against WB to put up a good legal fight but again we don't know what's in the contracts and what was in their legal right.

[numberthirty]

This is not true. WB cannot do whatever they want because they are not the full owners of the content actually and the legalities in the strategy and how it affects backend compensation and how they 'negotiated a fee with HBO Max' is questionable and complex. While change can happen it can also be halted when laws and infrastructure are not yet ready. There are too many questions still not answered for us to even know if what has occurred is even legal or if it breaks any contractual agreements with third parties.

Unless you're a lawyer who knows about entertainment law we may not know much more until the lawsuits start rolling in and the details of contractual agreements and legal defenses are stated. I will say from the little we've seen, I think that the actors, theaters, and others may have a good case against WB to put up a good legal fight but again we don't know what's in the contracts and what was in their legal right.

Yep.

Look at something as seemingly straightforward as the rights to "Friday The 13th".

To think that the rights to some of the IP we are talking about will wind up being anywhere near as simple as "WB's Call To Make..." is just really odd.

[Username taken]

If enough fans don’t go back to theaters, streaming will take over or
If enough fans don’t subscribe to streaming, that’s good for the theater.
The fans will ultimately control the studios decision.

As far as lawsuits, these movies are WB properties and they have the right to release their movies as they see fit.Whether that’s theaters or streaming or same day on both.

WB doesn’t fully own them, they have the rights to distribute some of these properties, hence the lawsuits.

I mean, WB doesn’t own Godzilla, so automatically moving the next entry of that franchise to streaming is going to cause a lot of chaos.

[Username taken]

This is not true. WB cannot do whatever they want because they are not the full owners of the content actually and the legalities in the strategy and how it affects backend compensation and how they 'negotiated a fee with HBO Max' is questionable and complex. While change can happen it can also be halted when laws and infrastructure are not yet ready. There are too many questions still not answered for us to even know if what has occurred is even legal or if it breaks any contractual agreements with third parties.

Unless you're a lawyer who knows about entertainment law we may not know much more until the lawsuits start rolling in and the details of contractual agreements and legal defenses are stated. I will say from the little we've seen, I think that the actors, theaters, and others may have a good case against WB to put up a good legal fight but again we don't know what's in the contracts and what was in their legal right.

Exactly this.

A lot of large studios own distribution and publishing rights to IPs but not total ownership of said IP. These contracts are very complicated and we really don’t know what’s going to happen with WBs decision here.

[luprki]

WB doesn’t fully own them, they have the rights to distribute some of these properties, hence the lawsuits.

I mean, WB doesn’t own Godzilla, so automatically moving the next entry of that franchise to streaming is going to cause a lot of chaos.

WB may not fully own these movies, but they have ALL rights of distribution. Meaning WB and only WB contractually will decide how a movie is released as they see fit. Any lawsuit would be frivolous.

[Jokerz79]

WB may not fully own these movies, but they have ALL rights of distribution. Meaning WB and only WB contractually will decide how a movie is released as they see fit. Any lawsuit would be frivolous.

Production Companies, Individual Producers, Directors, and some Actors all have deals with WB to get proceeds from the theatrical run of these films it's why they agreed to do them. So by not releasing them exclusively to theaters for a run or not buying them out like they did Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins WB is in violation of the contracts and any lawsuits are not frivolous due to this.

[ComicJunkie21]

WB may not fully own these movies, but they have ALL rights of distribution. Meaning WB and only WB contractually will decide how a movie is released as they see fit. Any lawsuit would be frivolous.

This is also not 100% accurate. We do not know if WB has full distribution rights to every movie that they announced. It is not uncommon for studios to split costs and rights to films, this lowers risk and it can affect the details of distribution rights because contract details will vary by film and studio responsibilities in these contracts. Example is Godzilla vs Kong, Legendary paid for about 75% of it which means more than likely they have a large say in distribution however it doesn't mean they have complete control over it, hence why WB was able to kill the deal with Netflix even though WB paid far less. Without knowing the complete details of the contracts and the roles of responsibilities of each studio, we can't say for sure if warner has that right to distribute however they please. With that stated, I would find it hard to believe that Legendary would pay for most of a film and not negotiate their right to have an equal or higher say in the distribution of it.

These things are not as black and white as you may think they are and the things I've stated so far are only one layer of the complexity as we haven't even talked about the various unions that also have labor agreements in place that may have been violated by these actions.

[Username taken]

WB may not fully own these movies, but they have ALL rights of distribution. Meaning WB and only WB contractually will decide how a movie is released as they see fit. Any lawsuit would be frivolous.

No they don’t. The development of the movie is a collaboration between WB and these other companies, same with the distribution. WB has literally violated some agreements here and will likely have to make some major financial payouts to joint distributors, financiers, film markers and the actors to avoid legal action.

WB agreed with Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins to compensate them based on the assumption the movie would gross N1bn. They’ll probably to have make similar arrangements with other parties here to avoid legal troubles.

[Gaastra]

Dune director confirms all the directors of the 16 movies wb plans to release on hbo max next year have got together and had a meeting about wb!