This blog post was originally going to be posted on my Freaking Film Fanatic Podcast posts, but thought that it's an issue that goes beyond what's happening in the world of entertainment during this crazy pandemic that has turned our lives upside down.
Maybe you have heard that last week, Warner Bros. Studios announced that starting with Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Bros. will be releasing their films in both theaters and on HBO Max, which Warner Bros. owns, on the same day. They claim that people comfortably enough to go out to the theaters to experience their films can still do so, but those not wanting to go out can still watch the movies on demand at home, streaming on HBO Max. There are some really big problems with this plan.
Number one, HBO Max has a lot of problems. I subscribe to HBO Max for a couple of reasons. I was subscribed to DC Universe, which was a streaming service for everything DC Comics related. It was great, but Warner Bros. owns DC Comics. So, when HBO Max was released, the did away with all of the streaming content on the DC Universe streaming service. The only thing DC Universe has now, which is kind of cool, is they are putting digital versions of a ton of their comic books on the DC Universe App. There won't be anything streaming as far as movies, tv shows, and animation, but you can read tons and tons of their comics right on your TV. If you like DC comics, it's worth it to keep the subscription, but that's all they have.
HBO Max's streaming service has tons of bugs, and the streaming content usually cuts out in the middle of a movie, and doesn't save your progress, so if you are watching a moive, and it cuts out half way through, you have to go out of HBO Max, find the movie you were watching, and fast forward to wherever you were. The problem with that, is you can't fast forward very fast, so it can get annoying, especially if it happens a couple of time during your movie.
HBO Max isn't widely available. Disney+ is available on almost every single platform available to stream to as many people as they can. It'a on my Roku TV. It's on just about every Smart TV and video game systems. HBO Max isn't available on most streming programs, and on top of that, there aren't very many subscribers anyway. I personally feel that Warner Bros. made their move to release their whole 2021slate of films available on HBO Max and in Theaters on the same day, because they want to get more subscriptions to HBO Max. In Salt Lake City, where I'm at, just about all of the movie theaters are open. Some are only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but closed during the weekdays. However, in most of the United States, theaters aren't open at all. I bought two tickets to go see Wonder Woman 1984 the day after Christmas, and the two tickets cost $21, but an HBO Max monthly subscription is $15, and everyone in the family and friends that visit can watch the movies with the $15 fee. That takes away so much money from theaters, and ultimately, Warner Bros. Studios. I was reading an article about the new reboot of Dune. Because it's not opening all over the country in theaters, and people with an HBO Max subscription only pay $15, their planned trilogy is most likely not going to happen because they count on the money made from the box office in the United States and especially, the foreign markets to produce the next film from the money made on the previous film, which brings me to my next point!
Number 2. The Foreign Markets and Piracy. When you look at the money totals from the box offices in the United States, they are pretty good for popular movies, and then the foreign markets add a lot of extra money that goes back into the studio to produce more films, and usually, if it's a frachise film, and it's very popular, the studios will usually try to continue with the franchise. For example, Marvel Studios, owned by Disney, has all of their popular comic book characters in multiple films and sequels. Even reboots. There are a ton of Spider-Man movies, and they just announced that the third Marvel Studios Spider-Man film is going to have a crossover with Toby McGuire's Spider-Man character, Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man character, and Tom Holland's Spider-Man character, as well as bringing back some older villains, likt Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2. As well as a sequel for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. If the previous films didn't perform well, like Andrew Garfield's The Amazing Spider-man franchise, where they wanted to create a big franchise with the Sinester Six, but failed in the box office with the second film, and the plans were scrapped. I really liked the Narnia franchise, and I love the books, but after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian didn't do so well, but made enough money because the first one did so well, and then they made Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and although it was better than Prince Caspian, nobody went to see it, so the other four Narnia stories were scrapped.
As you can see, a box office turnout is where the studios make most of their money. So, if theaters are closed, and people subscribe to HBO Max to watch those Warner Bros. films, those films are going to lose tons of money because every person that would spend 10 to 12 bucks per ticket at the box office, is gone. They will get a little bit of money from HBO Max subscriptions, but not enough that is needed to create new films, franchises or not. On top of that, Piracy his a huge problem in the foreing markets. Most of the time, films are usually released in the United States, and then foriegn markets a few days later, but internet pirates will be able pirate and download those films without an HBO Max subscriptoin. Believe me, It's a very very easy thing to do, and for some reason, the Asian markets are full of people selling pirated and bootleg movies to tourists. Why pay if it's readily available and super easy to get? Why go to a theater to watch a moive you paid 10 bucks per ticket for when you can pirate it, or watching the same thing at home on HBO Max for $15, and get all of the other content on HBO Max on top of the one movie you want to see?
There are also the issues where people will subscribe to a streaming service like Netfilx, Disney+ and Hulu, but they binge watch what they want to see, and after they see everything they care for in a month's time, they cancel their subscriptions, and so the money made from streaming services fluxuate from month to month. For Example, instead of getting Disney+ and then paying a fee to see the live action Mulan film, they canceled subscriptions, and then at the beginning of December, when Disney+ added Mulan in their normal subscriptions, people subscribed again. Streaming services are trying to find a solution to that issue. People will create more email accounts to sign up like they are a new person, but there's talks that the subscriptions coming from the same bank accounts and stuff like that, the different email strategy won't be working for much longer, and people will be charged high fees to resubscribe after unsubscribing.
I don't see or understand the marketing strategies Warner Bros. is using. I personally thing it stinks that most theaters aren't open, but I would much rather go to the theater to see some of the big blockbuster films. I'm excited to go see Wonder Woman 1984 in the theater. It is more expensive, but films are made to be exhibited in theaters for a couple of months, and then the studio makes even more money with streaming and physical purchases. I love my DVD and Blu-Ray collection, and I like adding to it. I don't like downloading a movie I can only watch using a specific streaming service,(I'm looking at you Amazon Prime Video).
The pandemic stinks so bad, but I think Warner Bros. is trying to make a quick cash grab with HBO Max, and they haven't thought ahead to how bad their deal really is. Like I said before, and filmmakers, cast and crew for Dune will probably not make enough money as they would have if they just delayed the film openings. I would rather wait a few more months to see if the vaccines and Covid-19 cases go down than see a movie on a date where I can just stay home and watch. I'm not surprised that other big studios like Fox and Disney aren't following suit. I think that Studios are having super hard times right now. The film industry is so crazy without a pandimic throwing a wrench into their cogs. The actors and director and producers aren't the only people behind a film. It's thousands of people who don't make much money at all, you've seen a ton of end credits that scroll through thousands of people who worked on that particular film, and the studios need that box office and foreign markets money to pay everyone fairly.
So, there you have it. My thoughts about this stupid decision that I think will cheat all of the crew behind each film, as well as rob the experiences from people enjoying the films in a theater with some popcorn and a drink. I know that I'm a critic, and most films have critic screenings of films a few days before they open, and I see them for free, but I keep very close watch of movie prices that are rasing, and I actually taylor my reviews by taking the ticket prices into account. I will usually mention in every review that I didn't think a certain movie was worth paying ten bucks per ticket and to wait for it to stream or rent at a Redbox. My sister was telling me last year that they went to a movie, and my sister had to pay ten bucks for three kids, so thirty bucks, plus twelve bucks for her and her husband, so that was $54 just for tickets, and when you add in popcorn or candy and a drink, it's almost $80 to go see one movie. I know how taxing that is on them, and so when I review thing, I make sure to say if it's worth the price of admission on a weekend evening, weekday evening, matinee' screenings, or just wait to stream it if you want to see it bad enough.
Anyway, that's my take on the news of Warner Bros. and HBO Max. I hope you are all still staying safe and healthy. I hope you are wearing your masks and that you are in good spirits. I am excited for Christmas time, and you can bet I will be back with some new posts and recommendations as well. I love you all, and I hope you have a good morning, evening, afternoon, or midnight hours when you read this post.
Goodnight, and Goodluck! (That's an awesome movie)
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