Warner Bros’ Hybrid Model: a Good Idea?
Last week’s announcement by Warner Bros, that a string of hotly anticipated films, including Dune, The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix 4, will be released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming service HBO Max in 2021, has sent shockwaves throughout the industry. Some are praising the move, others are staunchly opposed, and that includes one Christopher Nolan who on Monday excoriated the move in a broadside in which he branded HBO Max “the worst streaming service.” No matter your stance on the matter, there is no denying that this will have permanent repercussions on the film industry as we know it.
So where to start? Well it’s probably worth mentioning that we are in the middle of a pandemic that has seen mass closures of theaters across the globe. The theater industry has more than taken a hit, while the streaming industry has thrived. Tenet has been the only Hollywood blockbuster released, or more accurately, forcefully released by an impatient Nolan, into theaters during the pandemic, and though it has so far amassed a fairly impressive $356M given the circumstances, the message that Warner Bros’ guinea pig has produced is plain: people don’t feel safe at the cinema. However, it is not enough to just acknowledge COVID-19’s role in Warner Bros’ decision.
Established streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video grew massively throughout the latter half of the last decade. Netflix is now a fierce competitor alongside HBO at prestigious TV awards ceremonies like the Emmys, as well as having produced multiple Oscar nominated-and-winning feature films including Roma and The Irishman. In essence, it’s very hard to ignore these platforms regardless of your opinions on them. If you share Nolan’s sympathies, you probably see the advent of streaming as an attack on the sanctity of film watching; films are to be watched at the cinema alone, and any other medium is blasphemous. It is true that the experience of watching a film on the big screen is immensely hard to top, but such a view as Nolan’s is fast becoming dated. The pandemic may well have just catalyzed the tendency toward home-viewing that was already evident, and Warner Bros have taken it upon themselves to be the first to pounce on an opportunity to promote their budding streaming platform HBO Max, for better or for worse.
Of course, economically speaking, streaming is a big problem to theaters. Ticket sales are ultimately what keeps a venue afloat, and with so many theaters already having been struck badly by the pandemic, the news that many of the films that they’ll be counting on in 2021 to boost numbers will be released in a hybrid model has not been kindly received. Chains and organisations have already voiced their distaste at the decision, noting the movie theater as being paramount not just economically, but also in terms of the magic of cinema. The fact remains, Warner Bros has seen the results of Tenet and declared that theater exclusivity is not a viable approach in the current climate. The audience ultimately dictates the trajectory of the market, and right now, that audience is on their sofa. Though Warner Bros may not have consulted the filmmakers prior to their announcement, a problematic oversight, and though they may have ulterior motives in their promotion of HBO Max, the decision is an inclusive one that understands that people feel safer at home. It may just be the defining move that begins Hollywood’s trend toward an inseverable tie between the theater and the streaming platform.
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