Theatrical Future/PVOD Thread

[Nick]

Gotta wonder if Jenkins jumped ship as well. We know she got a good deal on WW84, but maybe she saw where things were going and found a couldn't miss opportunity.

Jenkins had this to say on the situation recently:

“When every single studio in town starts chasing the exact same thing, you’re like, Why doesn’t someone differentiate themselves?” Jenkins said. “In this case, I think what’s going to happen is … some studio is going to be smart enough to be an outlier, and all the great filmmakers in town are going to go there, and the theaters are going to favor their movies. Because right now, if there are studios that announce that [releasing day-and-date on streaming] is what they’re going to start doing, every filmmaker’s going to head to the studio that promises they’re not going to.”

So even her, having gotten her pay day, is against it all.

 

[quinnmac000]

The articles notes that James Wan has a 13% back end deal on his new horror film Malignant, which cost 60M to make; if Nolan is the first person WB shouldn't piss off, Wan is absolutely second in line as their main horror producer. He could also drop out of Aquaman 2 depending how badly relations go.

Atomic Monster is already trying to make the move to Universal...

 

[Nick]

Atomic Monster is already trying to make the move to Universal...

I think Universal stands to benefit most from the fallout of this. Sony, as well.

 

[rageofthegods]

Atomic Monster is already trying to make the move to Universal...

New Line kinda screwed the pooch on their Atomic Monster deal tbh. They leaned way too hard on Conjuring and IT and missed the chance to develop new franchises while the goings were green. Now there's no more IT movies and the Conjuring series is probably gonna end soon (declining BO, Wan winding down personal involvement, etc) and they're kinda left holding the bag with a bunch of half-developed projects and a very pissed-off main producer on most of them.

 

[RevFreako]

Bit of a clapback by Kilar:

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar on Why He Stands by the Decision to Release 2021 Theatrical Slate on HBO Max

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar talks about why he stands by the decision to release the studio's 2021 theatrical slate day-and-date on HBO Max.

variety.com

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Bit of a clapback by Kilar:

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar on Why He Stands by the Decision to Release 2021 Theatrical Slate on HBO Max

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar talks about why he stands by the decision to release the studio's 2021 theatrical slate day-and-date on HBO Max.

variety.com

He only mentions content creators once in this column:

So we had a decision to make, which is what do we do [to release movies] in the context of a pandemic? And how can we be thoughtful about not just the fans, which is where it starts and ends, but also the partners that we work with, whether it’s a director or a producer or an actor, whether it’s an exhibition community, which we care deeply about? I feel very good about the decision [to offer day-and-date streaming and theatrical releases for Warner Bros.’ 2021 film slate], which is about being able to give fans the choice. In the U.S. market, they get to make the choice in the middle of a pandemic whether they go to theaters, or whether they go to HBO Max, or both.

"We care about our partners... but the consumer matters most!" If you actually cared about the consumer, you wouldn't be burning bridges with everyone who puts in the labor for your profits or, worse, lay off thousands of workers beyond creative talent. Capitalism is imploding allllllll over WarnerMedia

 

[RevFreako]

He only mentions content creators once in this column:



"We care about our partners... but the consumer matters most!" If you actually cared about the consumer, you wouldn't be burning bridges with everyone who puts in the labor for your profits or, worse, lay off thousands of workers beyond creative talent. Capitalism is imploding allllllll over WarnerMedia

We shall see, won't we.

 

[belloq87]

Kilar's response is kind of a ridiculously over-written way of saying very, very little. If he thinks that's going to assuage the concerns of filmmakers (valuable filmmakers to WB) like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, James Wan, and James Gunn, he's crazy.

I also think he's painting an overly-pessimistic picture of the course of the pandemic in 2021 in order to attempt to justify the decisions being made. Should I believe Kiiar, who apparently thinks the pandemic will be running rampant in the U.S. throughout the second half of 2021, or should I believe Fauci, who says we could start to see herd immunity kicking in by April (assuming manufacturing/distribution continue apace)?

Unless Kilar has a background in disease and immunology that I'm not aware of, I'm gonna lean towards Fauci on that one.

 

[RevFreako]

Kilar's response is kind of a ridiculously over-written way of saying very, very little. If he thinks that's going to assuage the concerns of filmmakers (valuable filmmakers to WB) like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, James Wan, and James Gunn, he's crazy.

I also think he's painting an overly-pessimistic picture of the course of the pandemic in 2021 in order to attempt to justify the decisions being made. Should I believe Kiiar, who apparently thinks the pandemic will be running rampant in the U.S. throughout the second half of 2021, or should I believe Fauci, who says we could start to see herd immunity kicking in by April (assuming manufacturing/distribution continue apace)?

Unless Kilar has a background in disease and immunology that I'm not aware of, I'm gonna lean towards Fauci on that one.

Taking Fauci at his word, there's still a long time before we're back to normal.

 

[belloq87]

Depends on what "back to normal" truly means, I guess.

I'm fairly confident (again, assuming vaccines continue to be approved, manufactured, and distributed) that the second half of next year will see the resumption of most aspects of social life in this country. Probably with some masking, perhaps with some other "health theater" aspects like temperature-taking at large venues (theme parks, concerts, sports stadiums, maybe movie theaters), but I think we'll (for the most part) be able to do the things we were told we couldn't do this year.

 

[MrBlonde]

Kilar's response is kind of a ridiculously over-written way of saying very, very little. If he thinks that's going to assuage the concerns of filmmakers (valuable filmmakers to WB) like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, James Wan, and James Gunn, he's crazy.

It's definitely a lot of fluff.

Right now there's a 2-front battle of the talent vs the studio at the moment.

1. Back-end deals for the talent. At the drop of a hat they decided to shoot every partner in the foot who had one of these. There's going to be Knives Out level surprise of legs in the theater, no horror movie that will pull in smash hit numbers that makes the current models work. Talent will need to be compensated by the effective neutering of the market. The deals were made in good faith assuming the studio would do its best to maximize the profits of each film keeping them strategically aligned. HBO Max kills that alignment because WB wants content exclusive cheap to drive numbers as they transition. This is what will be fought in court or closed door negotiations.

2. Culture. There's been a lot of question marks regarding what's going on with WB post-acquisition, and as we can tell by departures (check the HBO execs and a LOT of people at DC comics proper), it's not going well. AT&T seems them as a pipeline for content into the ecosystem and assets to whittle down debt.

With legal specifics, it's an interesting argument over who owns a piece of art (yes, technically WB does most likely). These filmmakers, even at the highest level of popcorn tentpoles, try to do their best to be distinctive.

Furthermore, I can only imagine how irate the producing partners are in this situation. WB doesn't produce only in house and take other people's money to make their films, and then WB decided to screw all of them over. If a Disney did this, least they fund internally and everybody is usually a gun for hire.

I don't know what the future will look like, so I won't guess, but I do think WB should've done better in working with people in figuring a path forward.

 

[RevFreako]

Depends on what "back to normal" truly means, I guess.

I'm fairly confident (again, assuming vaccines continue to be approved, manufactured, and distributed) that the second half of next year will see the resumption of most aspects of social life in this country. Probably with some masking, perhaps with some other "health theater" aspects like temperature-taking at large venues (theme parks, concerts, sports stadiums, maybe movie theaters), but I think we'll (for the most part) be able to do the things we were told we couldn't do this year.

And I believe early 2022 is rhe more reasonable estimate, especially if the liability shield for businesses doesn't come, which it shouldn't, but that's another forum. The antivaxxers are simply going to slow herd immunity too much.

With legal specifics, it's an interesting argument over who owns a piece of art (yes, technically WB does most likely). These filmmakers, even at the highest level of popcorn tentpoles, try to do their best to be distinctive.

Respectfully, there's no argument and no "technically." Studio films are work for hire.

 

[Nick]

And I believe early 2022 is rhe more reasonable estimate, especially if the liability shield for businesses doesn't come, which it shouldn't, but that's another forum. The antivaxxers are simply going to slow herd immunity too much.

Some of the anti-vaxxers, have already gotten COVID however, so if you fall into that category, you're actually aa number towards herd immunity already. Herd immunity is going to be when we get to some combination of people who have the Vax + the people who already have the antibodies that equals out to 70%.

 

[RevFreako]

Some of the anti-vaxxers, have already gotten COVID however, so if you fall into that category, you're actually aa number towards herd immunity already. Herd immunity is going to be when we get to some combination of people who have the Vax + the people who already have the antibodies that equals out to 70%.

We already have examples of people getting reinfected, so that's not an argument I buy. We also have Desantis advocating for only giving people one dose, and other assorted nonsense. I'd love things to fet back to normal as quickly as possible, I just don't believe second half 2021 is realistic.

 

[Nick]

We already have examples of people getting reinfected, so that's not an argument I buy. We also have Desantis advocating for only giving people one dose, and other assorted nonsense. I'd love things to fet back to normal as quickly as possible, I just don't believe second half 2021 is realistic.

I don't believe he'll legally be able to only give one dose, especially if taken to court. But that is a discussion for somewhere else (i.e. not Inside Universal).

 

[RevFreako]

Roku issue is settled.

 

[Nick]

Roku issue is settled.

At least they were smart enough to get this done.

How are people in Europe going to be able to watch this movie without pirating, though? There’s no release plan for the European market it would seem as they don't have HBO Max and theaters are closed. So it's either pay for a VPN AND sign up for HBO Max, or just rip a free 4K version of the movie a few hours after release.

 

[MrBlonde]

At least they were smart enough to get this done.

How are people in Europe going to be able to watch this movie without pirating, though? There’s no release plan for the European market it would seem as they don't have HBO Max and theaters are closed. So it's either pay for a VPN AND sign up for HBO Max, or just rip a free 4K version of the movie a few hours after release.

A new franchise:
"From the creators of Aquaman..... Pirates of the European"

 

[RevFreako]

At least they were smart enough to get this done.

How are people in Europe going to be able to watch this movie without pirating, though? There’s no release plan for the European market it would seem as they don't have HBO Max and theaters are closed. So it's either pay for a VPN AND sign up for HBO Max, or just rip a free 4K version of the movie a few hours after release.

I say this with nothing but love - so what? If WB isn't concerned with piracy, which happens anyway since most movies don't hit Europe day and date - why should you or I be bothered?

 

[Nick]

I say this with nothing but love - so what? If WB isn't concerned with piracy, which happens anyway since most movies don't hit Europe day and date - why should you or I be bothered?

I'm not bothered by it. I'm pointing out their absolute and complete incompetence. HBO Max should've at the very least expanded to Europe by now so that they could use WW 84 and the 2021 slate of movies to gain subscribers. But without that, this is just a laughably big missed opportunity to grow their streamer.