Absolutely, moving its movie from the theater to the platform of HBO Max is not the best option of Warner Bros., but it is an inevitable selection that the movie producing brand has to make.
Moving the movies from theater to a streaming movie platform is a big bet. Nonetheless, WarnerMedia played a huge bet on the long-term development of HBO Max when they moved movies produced by their studio – Warner Bros. – to this platform. The company confirmed that from 2021, movies of WarnerMedia will be available on the platform of HBO Max at the same time it is going to the theater.
WarnerMedia assured user that the movies appearing on HBO Max would be available for 1 month and have no extra cost to be streamed. And as it has been said earlier, it is a big bet of WarnerMedia, but it is inevitable. COVID-19 once again is surging the whole world again, and last night, the casualties number reached more than 66 million infected cases.
New content on streaming media such as HBO Max is drying out, and as a result, providing new movies to this platform is necessary. Last year was a strange year of the cinema industry when the maximum capacity of it is only 25%. WarnerMedia decided to move their products to the platform of HBO Max, so that they can at least earn some revenue.
However, it is not honestly the best deal for everyone. It is a loss for Warner Bros and a deficit for AT&T – owner of WarnerMedia. With out revenue per-film earning through showcasing movie inside a theater, AT&T may lose $1.2 billion according to analytical firm MoffettNathanson. Consequently, the pay-TV business of the company can also suffer from the decision.
Anyway, the shifting is a great adaption for the upcoming future of Warner Media and Warner Bros. The development of streaming platform in the year of 2020 is inevitably outstanding. Due to the effect of COVID-19, people rather stay inside more and enjoy movie through streaming platform rather than inside a theater.
It is not a good answer for everyone, but it is a good solution for a long-term development of HBO Max. Again, this shifting has its drawback, and the Warner Bros. studio might suffer from it the most. In 2019, Warner Bros. was the most revenue firm of Warner Media when they earned for the company $14.4 billion — just under 50 percent of all revenues within the division.
With this changing happening, Warner Bros. will face an unavoidable loss in the upcoming time of 2021. Yet, AT&T CEO John Stankley still has faith in the success of this shifting.
“We’re going to have some really good content here that’s spoiling and can be used for other purposes,” Stankey said.
If what Warner Bros. is planning to do at this moment is real, audience will have an opportunity to enjoy several blockbusters like Godzilla vs. Kong, F9, In the Heights, Venom: Let There be Carnage, Top Gun: Maverick,Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,and Uncharted.
In the end, what WarnerMedia, Warner Bros., and AT&T are about to do is a bet, a huge bet that is unpredictable. No one knows what really will happen including the insiders, the executives, and the shareholders, but it is a life-changing shifting.
Perhaps, Disney will also do the same thing in the upcoming week.