https://www.theverge.com/22152626/hbo-max-2021-movies-release-date-matrix-dune-suicide-squad

"The company announced yesterday that every one of its 2021 movies will debut on HBO Max in the United States at the same time they play in theaters. They’ll be available for one month, at no extra charge, and available to stream in 4K HDR. It feels like an inevitable shift; COVID-19 cases are surging around the world again, new content on streaming services is drying up, and WarnerMedia needs to figure out a way to keep revenue coming in. Looking at a year where cinemas might not open beyond 25 percent capacity in the United States and where people may not want to sit in a room full of strangers until a vaccine is released, it makes a lot of sense that Warner Bros. is using the opportunity to see how a simultaneous release could benefit HBO Max."

Big, if understandable shift. Theater's future is looking even grimmer.

Good, this will save me the risk of going to a cinema to see Godzilla vs Kong.

I'm not even sure if HBO is available here in Australia though, might need to use a VPN to watch it. Hopefully there's a free trial as I just want to check out that one film.

Cool, doesn't cost me anything extra since I get HBO Max for free with my internet service.

If this becomes the norm, I wonder what theaters will do to not lose too much of their appeal once the pandemic is over (all those that'll have survived by then, that is). They'll still have the bigger screen, and going to the movies is always a good plan when there aren't viruses all around, but many people will just choose not to spend that extra money if they have the chance to watch the same movie "for free" in the coziness of their home instead.

I know of a little theater that doesn't have the latest releases. Instead, the movies shown there are usually difficult to find in other places or services, the audience is therefore different, and that's what makes it work. Also, its prices are noticeably lower. Something like that is what I think the big theaters could do - combining the latest releases with some older movies that people would be willing to see but are not available on streaming services, while asking for a price that's enticing for the general audience.

Or they could perhaps embrace some technology that would really make a difference between them and their streamed counterparts. I don't know what that could be right now, however, but it should be something that could be done on the theater end without too much of an extra cost. 3D, for instance, was a nice feature, but it was dependant on the film being shot at that specific format and wasn't worth the (sometimes abusive) price increase it came with - not to me, at least.

Or if they've tried everything and still haven't been able to defeat their enemies, then let'em just join them. Theaters could make collaboration agreements with the subscription services, so that the movies that are available both in theaters and online have a (big) discount for people who buy the tickets for the theaters through their subscription service. That way, streaming services would still be (even more) appealing, because they would offer exclusive promotions, but not so much at the cost of theaters' own appeal, because those promotions would directly benefit them.

Or maybe they could try a combination of some or all of the above, or just not listen to what some random freak says on the internet and do something totally different or, well, nothing at all. Whatever the case, theaters will still face hard times after covid, which is kinda sad.

Yeah I don't like this one bit. I love the cinema, go 20 - 30 times a year. This is crazy news to me.

I get this is a gaming site, and gaming sites especially cesspools like IGN where nearly all the comments are positive about this, cause, you know gamers are fat slobs who hate going outside. But movie fans are is dismay right now. Me being one of them.

I get that people feel streaming services are popular now and rival the cinematic experience but I never would have thought they would be the main focus for the studios. I thought bringing people back to the theatres should have been a priority, but these studios couldn't give an inch about them.

Where possible, I'm going to head out to the cinema to watch the movies I looked forward to. I'm not jumping onboard this train just yet.

You know, I also enjoy going to the movies, but.....really? Just unnecessary.

The reason a lot of gamers probably don't care as much about losing the movie theatre experience, is because a lot of them are likely to own pretty high end home set ups. If you've already got a big ass TV, or even a projector, and a good surround sound system to go with it, there's less need to go out to the theatre as often.

Ok fair point. I have a home theatre, yes it's better than most cinemas I've been to, but I still love the cinema. I'm also still am going to say my point is probably more accurate especially going by ign comments. Plus, gamers pirate, like a lot. It doesnt suprise me that gamers have no problem with this. 

I'd also argue movie enthusiasts would have a higher end set up than most gamers anyway. 

I agree BIG TIME on the bold part.

(But I still enjoy the experience a lot when that doesn't happen.)

I'm a movie fan, but there is a pandemic of a deadly airborne disease happening right now so excuse me if I'm not enthusiastic about sharing an indoor space with dozens of strangers, any one of whom could get me killed.

If this proves successful, I wonder how many subscription services will be required to have full access to the roster of new releases. It's already $24/month between Disney+ and HBO Max, and Disney has already shown willingness to dig deeper into your wallet than movie theatres. Considering that streaming cannot match the performance of modern film projectors, this could very easily become a situation where you're paying a premium for an inferior product.

It's nice to have the option during a plague, but since this is the industry's idea of damage control and not about taking advantage of modern technology for the benefit of the audience, I suspect that they're going to EA this up the moment they realize they can get away with it.