Warner Bros has announced that all its films for next year will be screened simultaneously on the streaming platform, HBO Max, and also in cinemas. According to a New York Times report, this move was taken as a strategy to survive in an era of global pandemics whose end is still unknown
It is believed that there are 17 films released by Warner Bros which will be screened next year. Among them are The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and a sequel to The Suicide Squad.
Although vaccines for the virus will be released soon, Warner Bros. not sure that people will want to watch movies in cinemas like before for a long time, maybe until 2022.
Looking at cinema closures and declining ticket sales for the sector makes the move of switching to streaming platforms as the best alternative. The drastic move from Warner Bros. looks like it could leave a huge impact on the film industry. Will this move be a new norm in the industry?
However, the steps taken by Warner Bros. and some of these other production companies may have an impact on the cinema industry.
Impact on the cinema industry
Each new film will be screened in cinemas first to make a profit before the film can be bought or rented. Then, after a few months of the movie being screened, then the movie can be streamed on streaming platforms like Netflix and so on.
The chain is based on an economic principle called ‘price discrimination’ where the premium price will be charged to those who want to watch the movie at the earliest rate taken by Warner Bros. which is one of Hollywood’s largest production companies, will to some extent disrupt the cinema industry.
It is believed that all Warner Bros. films for next year that can be streamed on HBO Max is only exclusive to American citizens only and global screenings will still be released in cinemas as usual. Even so, there is no denying that American influence on every film industry is huge.
Although the steps taken are temporary, the average Hollywood art activist describes the steps taken by Warner Bros as an irreversible move and will probably force every Hollywood production company to take the same step.
So, the question now is, what fate will befall the cinema industry, especially in America? The COVID-19 pandemic has made people choose not to watch movies in cinemas for fear of risk. When the option to watch a new home movie is given, it is likely that it will change consumer behavior in the future.
This issue may be more relevant to the American population and not to us in Malaysia. Nevertheless, there is no denying that the steps were taken by Warner Bros may change the cinema industry in the future.
Sources: HBO Max, Warner Bros.com, Economicsonline.com, Universalpersonality.com, NYTimes.com