It was an announcement I never thought I'd see coming. But Warner Bros. dropped the news, and I couldn't be happier with it. Sure, the movie theaters and a few Hollywood folks are mad, but let 'em cry. The audience is the only group that matters. And baby, we're going to win big starting at Christmas.
Movie theaters have struggled in a big way this year thanks to covid-19. Hollywood executives and studios tried so hard to avoid the inevitable, delaying just about every single blockbuster until 2020 was devoid of nearly any. Way to screw the pooch, y'all.
Movie after movie just kept getting bumped a few months, until suddenly, there were no days left in the year. I don't know why Hollywood kept lying to itself, muttering crazy theories about how, if they just waited a little longer, covid-19 would go away, and people would return to theaters. Delusions of the worst kind.
I wrote a few weeks back that Tinseltown should have cut its losses and digitally released every movie on its original date. New 007 movie? Put it on Amazon Prime and iTunes for $15. "Black Widow"? Release it to Disney+ (without an extra fee like "Mulan"). Let audiences see the movies they were promised months ago instead of trying to rig the system and time things just right for a movie theater comeback.
Fortunately, Warner Bros. is thinking ahead. Way ahead. So far ahead, it's releasing all its blockbusters via HBO Max on the same day those releases will hit theaters next year. And at no extra cost. Cue the voice of John Hammond saying, "Spared no expense."
"Last week, Warner Bros. announced that due to the COVID-induced shutdown of most cinemas in key cities across America, it would release its 2021 slate simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. That includes sprawling, special-effects-heavy tentpole pictures such as 'The Suicide Squad,' 'Matrix 4' and 'Dune,' as well as awards season hopefuls like 'Judas and the Black Messiah' -- all representing some $2 billion in production costs," Variety reported.
America might start administering the very first trickle of covid-19 vaccines before December ends, but movie theaters aren't going back to normal anytime soon. And you know what Americans stuck at home like to do? Watch movies! So the geniuses at Warner Bros. are giving people what they want.
I think this is the best decision for audiences, and it went way further than what I thought would happen. My initial thought was studios might just start letting audiences purchase new movies digitally on their theatrical release date. But for Warner Bros. to just release the films onto its streaming service without any extra fees? That's amazing.
The artificial schedule constraints of movie releases have always angered me. The film has to come to theaters first, and then it can be released digitally some weeks later. But not to rent! You can only buy it when it first comes out. Then a week or two later you can rent it digitally for the lower price. What a racket.
I'm sure it's a complicated matter, and there're laws and policies on the books that govern this kind of stuff. But none of it benefits consumers. It's all set up to benefit folks who make movies and the theaters, which is bunk. I want each industry to be able to succeed and make a healthy profit, but not at the cost of limiting when and how I'm allowed to watch their movies. Introduce a little more free market into the situation.
Let movie fans decide when and how to watch films. All Hollywood has to do is make them well and release them. Customers will vote with their wallets if they want to buy it on Blu-Ray the day of release, rent it on iTunes, go to the theater to see it on the big screen or now, thanks to Warner Bros., if they just want to pay $15 a month and stream the movie from the comfort of their couch.
Now before movie theater CEOs leave chopped up DVDs of "Twister" in my bed for me to wake up to, allow me to say I love going to see films on the big screen. Before the plague hit, my wife and I were there nearly every week.
I was a loyal MoviePass customer for a year and then an AMC Stubs A-List subscriber for a couple years. I've bought more popcorn, Kit-Kats and sodas at the concession stand than I can remember. Going to the movies was my favorite hobby. Lord willing, I intend for it to be again if we can ever get rid of this plague (wear a mask, folks).
So I don't hate movie theaters. I don't want them to die out. But I also don't want them to have complete control over the films I watch. So Warner Bros.' announcement is exciting because, for once, it puts the power of choice in my hands, starting with "Wonder Woman 1984." Until I can feel safe in theaters again, I'll happily keep my HBO Max subscription going to watch "Dune," "Godzilla vs Kong," "Suicide Squad" and more safe at home.
As I said earlier, not everyone is happy with this announcement.
"Some of our industry's biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service. Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker's work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don't even understand what they're losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction," director Christopher Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter.
I'm going to put on my b*h pants for a moment here to deal with this whiny millionaire and luddite. Christopher, sweetie, it ain't about you. It's about the millions of movie fans you and your Hollywood buddies worked overtime to deprive of blockbuster films throughout 2020.
For months, all I read was "Tenet" delayed again and again, all to fill your unreasonable demand that customers be forced to watch it in theaters first before it went to streaming and home media. Your job is to make movies, not to tell fans how or when to watch them. And you know what? "Tenet" wasn't even that good. You were so busy worrying about the mechanism of time travel that you forgot to develop your characters.
You should have released "Tenet" digitally on its original date instead of fighting tooth and nail to control how movie fans watched your lackluster presentation during a deadly pandemic. HBO decided to value its customers and give us added flexibility with the movies we want to watch.
What did you do? You told people eager to spend their money on "Tenet," that if they wanted to see it on opening weekend, they had to risk their health to do so.
So tell me again why I should pity wealthy filmmakers and movie stars who apparently all called you after waking to HBO's news and crying about how movies will never again be the same. Millions of people across America have been stuck at home riding out a plague and trying not to die. God forbid we enjoy the occasional movie to distract us from the horrific and godforsaken pit of despair that is 2020.
Streaming and expanded viewing choices are the future of movies. Theaters and Hollywood should have to compete with that innovation just like every other business in every other industry in America. Warner Bros. has chosen to do that. So get on board, or get out of the way.