AT&T’s Warner Bros will debut its movies online and in cinemas simultaneously next year, the most dramatic move by a studio yet as the pandemic forces Hollywood to tear up its decades-old playbook for releasing blockbusters.
In an announcement that sent shares in cinema chains sharply lower on Thursday, Warner Bros said it will make movies available on the group’s HBO Max streaming service for one month in the US at the same time as it releases them in cinemas.
Hollywood is adjusting to the likelihood that cinema attendance will remain limited for the foreseeable future at the same time as media conglomerates are engaged in a fierce battle to establish their streaming businesses.