HBO Max to stream Matrix 4, Dune, all Warner Bros. 2021 movies same day as theaters – By Joan E. Solsman (CNET) / Dec 3 2020
Each new movie will be available on Max at no added cost for one month. Then it’ll be available only in cinemas and move on to other home viewing like it normally would.
HBO Max will stream movies like The Matrix 4, Dune and all of Warner Bros. new movies set for theatrical release next year, making them available to watch at no added cost online the same day as their debuts on the big screen. Each film will be on HBO Max, which is $15 a month, for one month, and then the movies will be available exclusively in theaters.
It’s the latest in a series of titanic shifts in how movies make their way to you. In the extraordinary circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic, studios and cinemas are experimenting with new release strategies that would’ve been inconceivable a year ago, especially for the most epically expensive of films, like Wonder Woman, Dune and The Matrix.
Warner Bros. is calling the approach a “hybrid model” and says the unprecedented strategy is a response “to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic, particularly in the U.S.” All films will be available in 4K Ultra HD and HDR on HBO Max. Once the films leave Max, they’ll follow the regular route from theaters to home viewing, like online rental and purchase, DVD and Blu-ray and eventually streaming again.
