Warner Bros. Releasing Entire 2021 Slate In Cinemas And On HBO Max Simultaneously

Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that within the UK,  Wonder Woman 1984 will have a window of up to a month exclusivity in cinemas when it releases December 16th, 2020. After that it will be launched on to video-on-demand platforms, which we broke yesterday.

But today they’ve broke the mould for 2021. Completely. Due to the pandemic Warner Bros. announced that a similar release strategy will exist for the next 12 months. That includes Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune, The Matrix 4, The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, Godzilla vs King Kong & the awaited Suicide Squad continuation.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Blockbusters for Cinema and Streaming at the same time

Credit: DC Comics

Read more: Wonder Woman 1984 Releasing In Both Cinemas And On HBO Max

In the United States these movies will be available via HBO Max subscribers for 31 days along with a cinema release. They will exit the streaming service after that point and be available in cinemas and then via the usual methods of home media releases as per normal.

This is an incredible change and as Warner Bros have already felt the effects of its domestic release (and international success for a pandemic with Tenet) they are probably the best placed studio to make a decision.

Will other studios follow suit? Most likely is the answer. But what this means for the rest of the world is unclear at this stage. However, going off the of the Wonder Woman 1984 release strategy, it’s probably safe to assume it’ll be the same world-wide as Cinemas struggle to stay open and gain audiences due to restrictions and rising cases.

Warner Bros. Pictures were quick to put out any rumours that this would exist longer than 2021, and were firm in their belief that this is a one off due to the ‘unprecedented’ situation the industry faces.

We had reported earlier in the week about their refusal to sell Godzilla vs King Kong to Netflix and it now becomes clear why…

Will you be watching films in the cinema next year? Will this news change your mind? Let us know in the comments below.

What do you make of this story? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook or Instagram pages! And if you enjoy listening to film podcasts, why not check out our podcasts, Small Screen Stories and Small Screen Film Club wherever you get your podcasts!