Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Suggests Longer Wait for New Movies to Hit HBO Max

Warner Bros. Discovery revealed a lot of new information about their company today, including the news that they are merging the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services into a single offering. Warner Bros. Discovery has been making headlines all week, as the new leadership team continues to cut and remove HBO Max projects in an effort to save money. Many fans are worried about the fate of their favorite shows, and while many things are still up in the air, it sounds like movies made by the company won’t hit HBO Max as quickly as they have been. For example, Dune hit theatres and the streaming site at the same time, but The Batman was put on the site 45 days after its theatrical release began, which has become more normal. Earlier today, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav suggested a longer wait for new movies to hit HBO Max. 

“As the maker and owner of the largest and most complete library of content in the world. We cover more surface area than almost any other media company,” Zaslav shared. “Theatrical streaming, linear TV free-to-air gaming, consumer products, and experiences, our own platforms, other platforms. And we have no intention of being beholden to anyone in particular or to a specific business model. Simply put, we are open for business. There’s been a lot of experimentation in our industry, and we are all smarter for it. At Warner Bros. Discovery, we believe strongly in the importance of preserving optionality and driving returns to a strategic mix of distribution and windowing options. For example, we will fully embrace theatrical as we believe that creates interest and demand provides a great marketing tailwind and generates word of mouth buzz as films transition to streaming and beyond.”

“When you’re in theaters, the value of the content and the overall viewing experience is elevated. Then when the same content moves to VOD, and then streaming it is elevated again. As films move from one window to the next their overall value is elevated, elevated, elevated. We saw this clearly demonstrated with The Batman and Elvis.”

Back in January, former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said the 45-day window would continue, which was the case with The Batman and Elvis, with the latter coming to HBO Max this month. Kilar also used The Flash as an example, which isn’t being released until next year. It sounds like the 45-day window could remain, but we probably won’t see any more same-day drops.

How do you feel about all of the recent news coming from Warner Bros. Discovery? Tell us in the comments.