According to WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, The Batman will be heading to HBO Max 45-days after being released in cinemas.
Last December, during the peak of the pandemic, Warner Bros. decided to do something wildly different; they made their full 2021 theatrical release schedule accessible to stream on HBO Max when the films hit the theaters on the same day.
Under Kilar’s hybrid release approach, 17 theatrical pictures — including DC’s Wonder Woman 1984, Godzilla vs. Kong, Space Jam: A New Legacy, DC’s The Suicide Squad, and The Matrix Resurrections – streamed concurrently on HBO Max.
In October, WarnerMedia affirmed a return to theatrical exclusivity, with new movies remaining unavailable on the streaming service for at least 45 days.
Over the previous year, Warner Bros. has followed a distribution strategy that consists of a limited theatrical release followed by a simultaneous release on HBO Max.
Kilar revealed to Vox’s Recode podcast that The Batman would be accessible for streaming 46 days after the movie reaches cinemas on April 19, 2022. He agreed that this is a significant shift from previous release approaches. “Think about when movies would show up on HBO, which is eight to nine months after theatrical premiere. The Batman is going to show up on day 46 on HBO Max… That is a huge change from where things were in 2018, 2017, 2016.”
The 45-day approach to the theatrical release schedule will be applied to all future Warner Bros. films. including Black Adam, The Flash, and Elvis, Kilar elaborated, “That is a very, very big change that I don’t think people appreciate, and I feel really good about it.”
Matt Reeves’ The Batman will be released in cinemas on March 4, 2022, and will be available to stream on HBO Max for subscribers only on April 19, 2022.
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