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Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins is doubtful that movie studios will continue to shift their focus to streaming premieres post COVID-19.
During the official reopening of Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins discussed her thoughts about same-day streaming/theatrical release plans.
In Jenkins’ mind, this approach wasn’t designed with longevity in mind and was something dependent on the COVID-19 pandemic era. “I don’t think it’s going to last,” Jenkins told THR.
Jenkins continued, “Streaming is great, but everybody is chasing it for financial reasons, and I don’t think the financial support is there to hold up the industry the way that it is. It’s one thing if it was only Netflix, but now every company has streaming. People are not going to subscribe to that many. Are studios really going to give up billion-dollar movies just to support their streaming service? Financially, I don’t think it makes sense.”
She elaborated on that statement by sharing her belief that theatrical releases will return. “I see theatrical coming back, and both should exist and will exist,” she said. “People like to go to the movies. It’s not because they couldn’t see movies at home. We’ve always been able to watch movies at home. It’s nothing new. I think it’s totally coming back.”
In late June, HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys — the same platform that premiered Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 amidst the pandemic — stated that the year-old streaming platform has “enough money” to compete in the streaming wars. Bloys shared, “I feel like we have got enough to do the programming we need to do, but there will always be a debate about the right amount of programming, and therefore is there the right amount of money?”
In the second quarter of 2021, HBO Max outperformed both Netflix and Disney+’s viewership of movies — thanks, in part, to its same-day streaming/theatrical releases such as Mortal Kombat, Godzilla vs. Kong and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Throughout 2021, all of Warner Bros. films have simultaneously debuted on HBO Max (and stay on the platform for 31 days) on the same day that they were released in theaters. As theaters continue to reopen amidst more and more people becoming vaccinated, it remains unclear how streaming services and motion picture studios will adapt release models post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: THR
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