Dont Tell NetflixDont Tell Netflix

By George Robbins

The pandemic has been a huge drain on everyone and it has especially been rough on the economy as a whole which has been suffering ever since it began. There is a lot wrong with the economy right now and some specific industries are currently suffering more than others. Fortunately, they have managed to make due by using other means to make up for their current predicament. The most unfortunate aspect of the industry at the moment is the fact that they cannot release movies the same way that they normally would. Normally, studios would release movies through movie theaters which would have exclusivity rights to films for a set amount of time before releasing to the public for purchase.

Ever since the pandemic began, movie theaters have had nothing but trouble with trying to get business back on track. The biggest issue that many of them are facing is the fact that they can’t attract people back because of the risk that is involved with doing so. The simple fact of the matter is that people are justifiably scared to go out to theaters because of the risk of getting infected with the virus. They have tried to assuage people’s fears by stating the fact that they have changed their guidelines to be much more safety conscious. Despite this fact, people don’t want to take the risk when they have already gotten used to watching movies from the safety and comfort of their own homes.

Of course, studios want to have their movies go to theaters before they release them on digital and DVD, but the fact of the matter is that this isn’t readily possible. If there is no one going out to see movies, what chance do they have to actually get to have people go out and see their movies. The market for movies was not great from the start of the pandemic because people were so used to going out to see movies in theaters. However, people have now spent enough time indoors that they have instead changed their viewpoints so that they now think the opposite of how they originally thought. Now, they are much more comfortable with staying in to watch new movies rather than going out to theaters where they could end up getting sick.

Although they don’t necessarily want to give up on having their movies release in theaters because it is another source of revenue that they don’t want to give up on, they have to compromise somehow. For those wondering just how bad the market is right now, it is very easy to go back and look at the ‘Tenet‘ situation that made things the way they are now. Back in August, theaters were just beginning to resume normal activity, meaning that they reopened their doors to the public when they needed new movies to show to the public. At the time of reopening, they had no new movies to really show to the public that people were looking forward to. In came ‘Tenet’ which was the new Christopher Nolan blockbuster that people were curious about for the longest time and it needed a release date of some kind.

Originally supposed to release in July, ‘Tenet’ had its release date pushed back a couple of times and finally it was given a release date. Things were actually so bad at the time that the movie released internationally first before releasing domestically one week later. So by the end of August and beginning of September, ‘Tenet’ was finally able to make its way into theaters where it had a relatively strong opening to the public. Given the state the world is in and the fact that theaters have to function on limited capacity, there was much less money made the first week which was what they really expected. This showed that there could, in fact, be a market for movie releases, but this was unfortunately not meant to last as they immediately realized the following few weeks. By the movie’s third week of release, the box office income had dropped tremendously and the market for the film was essentially dead domestically.

Warner Bros. was the studio responsible for putting out the film and they are all too well aware of the situation they were put into by the film’s lackluster release. They became the pariah studio in this case as they were the ones that made other studios realize that the movie market is pretty much non-existent at this point in time. Every other studio proceeded to move their films out of this year’s line-up almost entirely with only a few films being a part of the exception. Even then, they are having tremendously different releases from how they would normally do things and it is still heavily affecting the movie theater market. As of now they either push their films, release them in theaters and get them out a few weeks later on digital, or they release them on both platforms simultaneously.

The last two options were pretty much unheard of before the pandemic began, but unfortunately the practice had to come into being so that studios aren’t sitting on all of their films for over a year. The last option is one that is considered the most controversial because it most definitely messes with theaters who are already struggling as it is. At least with option number two they can make money with a 17 day exclusivity deal, even if it isn’t a lot. For some studios, especially Warner, this seems to not be a very viable option because they are already hurting due to the previously stated issue. The third option is the one that Warner now seems like they will be going with for some of their films. In an unseen turn of events, they even changed the release plans of their ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ movie.

The movie was originally meant to release in theaters on December 25th where it would remain exclusive for the agreed upon 17 days with theaters before releasing on digital. They have since changed those plans and they will now be releasing the movie simultaneously on both digital and in theaters on the 25th. While certainly not what theaters were expecting, it is a move that some people are seeing as a change in the way theaters function moving forward and how they interact with studios. They will be releasing the movie on both their HBO Max streaming service as well as in theaters to try and drive traffic to both. While this may not be what they were expecting from this whole situation, it is the decision that they finally came to.

This may not be the last time that they end up doing this though as it would appear that they are talking about doing this with the upcoming ‘Tom & Jerry’ live-action film. This movie is going to be a sort of reboot for the characters and therefore, it is a big movie release that we will be seeing unfold. The movie will see the two characters retaining their cartoon appearances in the real world instead of trying to make them appear more life-like. This is a decision that a lot of people are hopeful for because it means that they will get a movie that plays heavily off of the original cartoon that they loved growing up. Needless to say, this is another release that means something to the Warner Bros. studio and they want to handle it with just as much care as any of their other films.

If things end up working out with the release of ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ then we could see the same exact thing happening with the upcoming ‘Tom & Jerry’ movie. No one was quite sure of when the movie would be ready for release, but it would now appear that they have a date in mind and that date is some time in May of 2021. The idea is to have the movie release on both HBO Max and in theaters like Wonder Woman, but if things don’t work out with that, they will have to come up with another plan of action. Unfortunately, this means that Warner will once again be the sacrificial lamb that will be checking to see if something works the way they hope it will. These upcoming few months will be a strong determinant for them as they try to make their decisions moving forward.

Warner Bros. has really been trying to put their best foot forward with everything that has happened thus far and even though it is still dangerous, they are trying different tactics. In order to try and come up with the perfect form of release that could work for them, they are trying everything they can with various methods. On top of trying to come up with better release methods, they are trying to drive traffic towards their other revenue stream, HBO Max. They are trying to get as many new subscribers as they can, but things are not working out as intended with not a lot of people wanting to sign up for the service. Hopefully the releases of their upcoming movies work out for them or else they will have hemorrhaged money for nothing.