After Warner Bros. and HBO Max agreed to make films available on the streamer the same day as their theater releases, WB has now agreed to produce at least 10 more movies for HBO Max next year.
According to Variety, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced on AT&T’s second quarter earnings call that the company plans to put films at the forefront of people’s minds. With COVID restriction being dialed back and theaters opening back up, Warner Bros. is beginning the process of getting back to the traditional way of theatrical releases. It still plans to keep a 45-day window in place for certain theatrical exclusives, which is much shorter than the previous 75-90 day window that they used to work with. Kilar clarified in the call that things “aren’t going back to the way the world was in 2015, 2016, or 2017.”
“Clearly motion pictures matter and will continue to matter,” he said. “They also matter at home in terms of the response we’ve gotten.” Kilar believes Hollywood will “see this industry continue to evolve and innovate in ways that work for not only consumers and fans but also for our business partners.”
Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle became HBO Max’s first original film in August 2020. High profile films that have since premiered on the service include Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, In the Heights, and Space Jam: A New Legacy.
WarnerMedia EVP and GM of Direct-to-Consumer Andy Forssell added the company plans to mix its features with recurring programming. “We are learning more and more about the interplay of feature films and episodic programming,” Forssell said.
Warner Bros.’ 2022 slate of movies will be developed on a film-by-film basis. Kilar also said Warner will look to boost the number of made-for-HBO Max movies in the coming year as well.
