Forum - View topicNEWS: Deadline: Legendary Challenges Warner on Godzilla vs. Kong's Streaming Debut
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TranceLimit174
 Posts: 958 |
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I understand the why, but this is some real cutthroat business practice on the part of WB.
It has & will continue to be fascinating to see how Hollywood adapts to this new landscape. Also curious how movie-going habits will change in a post-COVID world. |
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PonSquared
 Posts: 246 Location: Lost in the Catskills |
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Assuming everything stays the way they said it is going to be, I plan on subscribing to HBO Max starting in January. my entire family is perfectly happy watching movies at home and this saves us tons of money from having to go to a movie theater. I have one in my living room I don't need to go to someone else's at the mall. I'm hoping this makes as much or more money as it would have if they released it only in theaters.
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Hikifroggy
 Posts: 86 |
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I have Hbo Max So a plus for me (Needs more Anime Though)
Time stops for no one Keep up with the Times Or Become The Next Blockbusters unfortunately.. |
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2403 |
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Why? If they release in theaters only, it won't do particularly well right now. They can keep pushing things back, but that cuts into the release schedule for other movies. And as far as business practices, giving consumers the option to enjoy the product without being in an enclosed public room sounds like responsible business practices... Even if they really did just do it for monetary reasons. More high profile movies are going to release in theaters only as soon as covid isn't an issue. Companies aren't just going to dump the 1-1.5 years worth of movies held back by covid out along with the next years movies. They're pushing this year's stuff into next year, and next years stuff further back. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4089 |
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It made me look but I'd sooner pay WB money to NOT ruin franchises by making movies than I would pay them directly.
But I do think it's funny that WB made this decision without consulting Legendary. Ah, it thinks it's Disney, that's cute. |
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TranceLimit174
Posts: 958 |
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If you put up 75% of the investment cost to create a product, not to mention countless labor hours, only for your business partner to then sell that product in a way that both nullifies your contract and cuts into your bottom line, I think you would be pretty angry too. Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy to have Godzilla VS Kong in my living room, but the ones getting screwed here are the filmmakers & talent who actually make the movie. As a creative professional, I have sympathies towards that. Right now a lot of bridge burning is happening in order to make this deal that may prove to be both short-term & short-sighted. What does this mean for you as an anime consumer? Chances are Legendary's live action My Hero Academia & Gundam will not be included with your HBO Max subscription down the line. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4380 Location: New York |
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You act like those films will ever get made. They have a nice spot parked in the Development Hell section of TV Tropes and they aren’t going anywhere. Ever. As for Legendary, unless Warner can provide a lot of cash as a make good, which they don’t have (otherwise they wouldn’t bother with a plan this completely desperate to drive up HBO Max subscribers), they probably go back to working with Universal. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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I think the problem/concern from Legendary starts with the fact that, though still mostly "preliminary", the returns on streaming-only movie releases this year have not been very good. There have been a few movies that premiered this year streaming only and they've not done particularly well. Of course the easy argument is that they weren't that good to begin with and movies missing their studio's projections is nothing new. Not to mention, none of those were particularly blockbuster films. The fear, however, is that there is an intrinsic loss that occurs going the direct to streaming route. Remember, direct to DVD/Video has always been a thing, and that has often led to movies being cast as sub-par. Right or wrong, Legendary wouldn't want its franchise's huge project to sniff that label if at all possible, especially when the hope is that by late May of next year enough vaccine is around that many restrictions and fears will evaporate. One only needs to look at the Demon Slayer film to know that people are definitely still willing to go to theaters if a good movie is showing there. The draw of "being first" to see it in a limited forum is a powerful draw in the industry. And lets admit it - there are a lot of stuff that people take a passive interest in, set on their watchlist, and then only get around to watching weeks or months later. That's not a concern for fans of the franchise, but big movies rely on drawing the passive interest folks in to watch right away. The fact they can "watch it some other time later since it's always gonna be available to stream" can definitely kill a lot of that initial momentum the film might otherwise want to capitalize on. Stemming from this it's likely Legendary would want a more open bidding process involved. HBO Max is the new kid on the block in streaming right now, but that doesn't mean a whole lot for May 2021. If they could have delayed the decision, or allow other platforms to bid, they could have raised the prominence of the film, and the price to the platform, to hopefully net a bigger pot of cash to offset the fears mentioned above. For WB this is all about containing the costs already racking up from having to reshuffle the deck on releases. From their perspective it's a safer bet to just deal with HBO Max to get a deal done, secure some money, and not risk that some hiccup comes along and shut theaters down again, or like people have mentioned, find that no one wants to go to a theater anymore. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Aside of what people have already said, it seems that WB made this decision without consulting or informing any of their business partners, which is just a really shitty thing to do in general. Also, about high profile movies being released in theaters only once "covid isn't an issue" - the problem is that no, all signs point at this not being the case anymore. (Although I guess we'll have to see what Disney's plan is, later this week.) WB's decision is obviously not one made in sheer desperation, this is a business decision, not an emergency one. The push to streaming is not something that started this year, the pandemic just accelerated the process, and to me it seems WB pretty much took a deep breath, and decided to just accelerate their own plans as well, burning the bridges behind themselves. |
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2224 |
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Yeah, the problem isn't really that they wanted to go to streaming, it's that WB did this unilaterally without telling anyone. This isn't like Wonder Woman 84 where they worked out a deal with the talent at all levels, they just did it and are STUNNED at how people like Margot Robbie, James Gunn, and Keanu Reeves are furious with them. This could get really messy, really fast |
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