It looks like Warner Bros. movie line-ups for 2022, such as The Batman will exclusively land in theatres before making way to the home media market via HBO Max. WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar revealed the news during a recent podcast while discussing the success of Godzilla vs Kong.
This year’s blockbuster-worthy titles such as Tenet and the recently released Godzilla vs Kong have fared well at the box office. Moreover, the Kaiju team-up film from the MonsterVerse has managed to be a win-win on both the streaming platform as well as at the box office. But its clear that WarnerMedia isn’t looking to bank on just the home market, especially with its upcoming big DC film, The Batman.
The Batman will release in theaters first in 2022, and later land in HBO Max
Speaking on Vox’s Recode podcast this Thursday, Kilar explained the changes of their plans on releasing titles simultaneously in theatres as well as HBO Max, as was the case with Godzilla vs Kong. Starting 2022, movies such as Matt Reeves’s The Batman will get an exclusive theatre run first.
“I think it’s very fair to say that a big, you know, let’s say a big DC movie, ‘The Batman’ for example, 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 said.
WarnerMedia signed a deal with Cineworld last month, the parent company of Regal Cinemas which offers them a 45-day window of theatrical exclusivity of WB-made films with certain provisions, from 2022.
The Suicide Squad, Matrix 4 and others to land simultaneously in HBO Max and theaters?
Unfortunately, it seems some of the other movies lined up for 2021 like The Suicide Squad will have a simultaneous release on HBO Max as well as at the box office. It’s unclear if ‘Space Jam” A New Legacy’, ‘Dune’ and ‘The Matrix 4’ would also face the same situation. However, 2022’s most anticipated flicks like Sesame Street,” “The Batman,” the untitled Elvis biopic and “Black Adam” could certainly have a better run with an exclusive theater release.
Kilar did state that he’s “very happy” with the performance of Godzilla vs Kong. And Moreover, also addressed the fallback of last year’s announcement of movies made for theater releasing on HBO Max. Many would remember that the controversial decision lead to pushback from great filmmakers such as Chris Nolan.
“There’s no doubt that it was bumpy back in early December of last year,” he said, adding that if he was able to replay his decision, he would have tried to give a heads up to some members of the Hollywood community. “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.”
What do you think of WB’s plans for the streaming platform and big screens? Share your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned for more updates.
