There was genuine concern that Warner Bros. sending the entire slate of 2021 movies to HBO Max on day one would signal the death knell for the theatrical industry, but that hasn’t been the case, even if business has been agonizingly slow in returning to any sort of normality.
Of the studio’s eleven hybrid releases to date, seven of them opened at number one domestically, while they’ve combined for a global box office haul in excess of $1.2 billion, far more than any other studio during the same timeframe, even if Godzilla vs. Kong‘s $467 million is the only sum reminiscent of pre-COVID times.
According to WarnerMedia, the experiment ends as soon as 2022 begins, but we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us HBO Max were inviting pitches for TV shows let in the Harry Potter universe long before it was confirmed – that Robert Pattinson is reportedly adamant The Batman stays as far away from HBO Max as possible until it finishes up a full theatrical run.
The hybrid model may be getting thrown out of the window, but Warner Bros.’ movies are still planned to land on HBO Max just 45 days after they premiere theatrically. One of the reasons why Black Widow‘s box office has tailed off so dramatically was the availability of pristine copies being widely pirated, and even after five weeks that’s still a danger that faces every major release destined for a short big screen window.
The Batman needs strong reviews and even better financial returns to assuage any and all doubts over both Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ reboot in general, meaning that five weeks might not be enough to hit the intended heights, especially when it took The Dark Knight seven months to reach a billion, and The Dark Knight Rises ironically hit the milestone on day 46.
