As the landscape continues to change in the streaming wars, we’ve been seeing some major studios start to move further and further away from the theatrical model. Paramount+ have already gone public with the intention to focus largely on in-house exclusives that you can watch from the comfort of your own home, while branded blockbusters will make up the bulk of the company’s big screen releases.
HBO Max has been looking to gain some ground on the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus for a while, and we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Ben Affleck would be returning as Batman in The Flash long before it was confirmed – that Warner Bros. could be leaning hard into streaming when it comes to DCEU content to try and close the gap.
While the franchise is never going to abandon theaters entirely when there’s still billions of dollars to be made, a quick glance at the upcoming slate of projects indicates that a shift is quietly underway as we speak. Batgirl, Blue Beetle, Black Canary, The Batman spinoffs focusing on the Gotham City PD and Penguin, Justice League Dark, Madame X, Constantine, Michael B. Jordan’s Val-Zod Superman, Peacemaker and Green Lantern are all in the works.
That’s eleven feature length or episodic streaming exclusives on the docket, with Black Adam, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Batman, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Zatanna and Wonder Woman 3 the only movies officially in active development and heading to multiplexes only, so the tides are clearly beginning to turn in favor of HBO Max already.
