HBO Max launched

[Username taken]

Profits aren't bad. Profits that exist because you have a product people want to buy are great. Profits that exist because you have a product people want that you are artificially propping up via an archaic and outdated system are not. Caping for the latter during a pandemic where said outdated system they're propping up would literally kill people is abhorrent.

Once we get this pandemic under control I'll be happy to entertain all of the arguments about the sacrosanct nature of the theater system and how even though you talk a lot about how people really enjoy it it'll nonetheless collapse completely the moment people have a second option, but right now it is completely and totally indefensible.

Considering the sheer and competing number of streaming services, I seriously doubt that streaming is the future that many think it is.

Seriously, I’m not going pay for Disney Plus, Netflix and HBO Max for months on end. And I’m pretty sure most people won’t, especially since the only major streaming service that’s international and available in most territories is Netflix.

While I don’t think theaters are sacrosanct, the studios still stand to make the most monies from them..at least until streaming goes global.

[Username taken]

WB will have to pay $250m or HIGHER if they want to put godzilla vs kong on max! (is it worth it wb?)

Turns out the will smith film was put IN CONTRACT by will smith that the film get a full wide theatre release and can not go to any streaming service till after it's full release! Not only that the family was promised by wb the film WOULD get a full theatre release!

So yes smith can sue the pants off wb if they put it on max at all before it's done with it's full theatre window!

So add that one off the list! That's two down! Three unless wb wants to pay $250m or HIGHER for kong!

I’m not surprised.

I fully expect that a lot of movies that WB has already committed to streaming will get released in theaters too.

These movies cost hundreds of millions to make, unless WB has billions of dollars to spend on movies that aren’t even reaching a global audience because of region locking, i suspect a lot of these movies will be delayed but eventually release in theaters.

[Pinsir]

I never stated Sony was stealing. Jumping ship just means that the people who worked for or with an organization are leaving it, it doesn't necessarily imply a particular reason for the jump as there could be many reasons. For this specific case, I'm implying that the directors, actors, writers, etc are not wanting to work with WB anymore and are looking to go to other studios for work.

I don't think there is any evidence of this happening though and your article certainly doesn't say that either. It should also be noted that the article said Sony's current boon is because of Disney+ and other streaming services, not just HBO Max.

[ComicJunkie21]

I’m not surprised.

I fully expect that a lot of movies that WB has already committed to streaming will get released in theaters too.

These movies cost hundreds of millions to make, unless WB has billions of dollars to spend on movies that aren’t even reaching a global audience because of region locking, i suspect a lot of these movies will be delayed but eventually release in theaters.

Seriously, who in the heck was in the room when this decision was made? It's actually pretty embarrassing that these high positioned people didn't even think of the legal and financial implications that this move would have.

The first question should always be "Are we legally able to do this" and it looks like no one even brought it up.

Regardless of whichever side you're for, I think most can agree that this was a failure on leadership at ATT/WB in multiple areas.

[Thezmage]

Considering the sheer and competing number of streaming services, I seriously doubt that streaming is the future that many think it is.

Seriously, I’m not going pay for Disney Plus, Netflix and HBO Max for months on end. And I’m pretty sure most people won’t, especially since the only major streaming service that’s international and available in most territories is Netflix.

While I don’t think theaters are sacrosanct, the studios still stand to make the most monies from them..at least until streaming goes global.

Exactly, we don't need rich directors to defend movie theaters from streaming. The theater system will survive whether people like Christopher Nolan and Legendary Pictures successfully pull people into the virus like a meat grinder or not. This huge temper tantrum that they're throwing is completely pointless, and just exposes how selfish they are.

[CastletonSnob]

https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us...s-january-2021

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Seriously, who in the heck was in the room when this decision was made? It's actually pretty embarrassing that these high positioned people didn't even think of the legal and financial implications that this move would have.

The first question should always be "Are we legally able to do this" and it looks like no one even brought it up.

Regardless of whichever side you're for, I think most can agree that this was a failure on leadership at ATT/WB in multiple areas.

A big thing is you have a big company like AT&T make decisions because they "can" but they aren't as ingrained in the film studio culture and how relationship based it is. Like Legendary and WB have made a lot of money together and Nolan was a huge tentpole relationship to have and it was petty to just act like they were irrelevant in the process because they had certain rights. They probably all sat in a room and said "theaters are closed right now, that money isn't coming in right away, HBO Max is dissapointing in it's launch numbers, what if we leveraged this situation so that we could take some of these doormant films and use them to boost HBO Max. Then to paraphrase Jurassic Park, they started spending so much time wondering if they could that they didn't stop and think if they should. They thought they found a brilliant idea and were like "well we can distribute however we want, so we can do this".

[ComicJunkie21]

A big thing is you have a big company like AT&T make decisions because they "can" but they aren't as ingrained in the film studio culture and how relationship based it is. Like Legendary and WB have made a lot of money together and Nolan was a huge tentpole relationship to have and it was petty to just act like they were irrelevant in the process because they had certain rights. They probably all sat in a room and said "theaters are closed right now, that money isn't coming in right away, HBO Max is dissapointing in it's launch numbers, what if we leveraged this situation so that we could take some of these doormant films and use them to boost HBO Max. Then to paraphrase Jurassic Park, they started spending so much time wondering if they could that they didn't stop and think if they should. They thought they found a brilliant idea and were like "well we can distribute however we want, so we can do this".

To add, I think ATT is so used to being able to do whatever they wanted without having to think about anyone else because telecommunications for the most part is an oligopoly and its either my way or the highway, but its not that way in the film and tv industry and you can't afford to burn bridges. Additionally, ATT isn't used to having to deal with so many stakeholders on a single project and because of what I mentioned before about the oligopoly, they aren't used to contracts not being in their favor.

[ComicJunkie21]

The release of WW84 may have bit them in the butt considering the negative reviews people are giving it. That movie was made to be seen in theaters with other people. I doubt that they get many subscribers with the negative critics getting at them.

Unfortunately, we're starting to see a disparity in reviews of people who saw it in theaters compared to at home. At home has worst reviews, too early to know why though. Its not just WW84 but Disney is also seeing Soul have negative reviews. Have a feeling that this may have set streaming back when it comes to the blockbuster expensive films if the data starts to show that streaming has a more negative impact on films when streamed at home, which may deter expensive films releases.

[Kirby101]

I see WW84 reviews are mixed but more positive than negative. But Soul is at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. What negative reviews.

[ComicJunkie21]

I see WW84 reviews are mixed but more positive than negative. But Soul is at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. What negative reviews.

Last I had seen both films ratings were dropping and I'm noticing reviews from people on twitter and newly released reviews are more negative. Personally, some of the negative reviews have been pretty odd on their criticisms for both Soul and WW84. Both were good films that I would give a B or B+ and just think being the first big films since the pandemic started, may have people being overly critical since we haven't had blockbuster content in almost a year and the experience at home is not going to be or feel the same as in a theater.

[WebLurker]

The release of WW84 may have bit them in the butt considering the negative reviews people are giving it. That movie was made to be seen in theaters with other people. I doubt that they get many subscribers with the negative critics getting at them.

Been keeping away to avoid spoilers (theaters' in my town are still closed, so I may have to wait for the BluRay), but I thought the movie had had a generally positive reception.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

We won't know if Wonder Woman 1984 is a bust until January or February when AT&T has to reveal if they got a couple million subscribers in December. If they did get a huge number of new subscribers to the service at $14.99 , then it paid off very well. But if the numbers aren't good the strategy failed.

[Gaastra]

WW94 not working on many roku devices. Getting people mad!

Warner Bros. isn’t reporting any official box office results for Wonder Woman 1984 on its opening Christmas Day — which various sources tell us was record-worthy for the pandemic stateside, disastrous by normal marketplace conditions — but various HBO Max users are taking to social media, in particular the @HBOMaxHelp Twitter handle, to voice their grievances over either streaming glitches or problems logging on to the app.

There haven’t been any blackouts yet for HBO Max because of the DC sequel tentpole hitting the service as of 12 p.m. EST yesterday. But should they occur, it’s par for the course whenever a popular title hits streaming (i.e. Netflix’s two-hour outage back in 2016 when Marvel series Luke Cage dropped).


An HBO Max rep tells us this morning, “HBO Max did not experience any significant disruptions.”

One viewer today on the @HBOMaxHelp Twitter reported problems in watching the Patty Jenkins-directed feature on a new Roku. That’s a service which HBO Max recently made an agreement with to annex that device’s 46M subscribers. Roku was one of the key streamer device holdouts for HBO Max, the service able to tie-up deals with a number of pay-TV providers, gaming platforms, connected-TV devices, and major hubs like Apple and Google earlier this year.

@HBOMaxHelp
Trying to watch #WW84 on a new roku series 5 4K tv and it’s unwatchable due to stream issues. Other movies and internet working great. You guys are really making it easy to choose to watch that other new movie on that other platform instead this morning...

https://deadline.com/2020/12/wonder-...ce-1234661645/

https://twitter.com/ndrewharman/stat...-1234661645%2F

[luprki]

I been hearing WB only put up 25% of the movie’s budget. That doesn’t matter because WB put up 100% to get P&A distribution rights.
Movie budgets and distribution rights are two separate entities. It doesn’t matter who or how much a company financed the production, the company with the distribution rights makes the decision on how to get to movie to the public.