Day-and-Date Release of ‘The Flash’ Might be the Best Thing for Max; Here’s Why it Will Never Happen
HBO Max is about to undergo a serious facelift. This is more than just a new coat of blue paint; users might not even recognize the service once it relaunches under the name “Max” on Tuesday, May 23.
That date is just a few weeks before the June 16 release of “The Flash,” the newest DC Comics movie from Warner Bros. Discovery. The film saw its world premiere at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, and early reactions are not far off DC Studios co-head James Gunn’s assessment that it’s “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.”
With buzz like that, “The Flash” could turn into a box office juggernaut for WBD. That’s something the company sorely needs, especially as recent DC movies like “Black Adam” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” have had comparatively lackluster theatrical runs. Neither film grossed more than $400 million worldwide, and both were received poorly by critics.
But the true value of “The Flash” to WBD might be in what it could do for Max. The film is due to arrive in cinemas just a few weeks after the launch of new streaming service, and if WBD decided to release the movie directly to streaming on the same day it appears in theaters, it could drive a huge number of new subscribers to the service. Past day-and-date releases like “Dune,” “Suicide Squad,” and “The Matrix Resurrections” drew millions of viewers to HBO Max in 2021, when the company had a controversial policy of releasing all movies to streaming on their theatrical release dates, but early reactions to “The Flash” suggest that interest in this film could far surpass all of those titles.
Making “The Flash” a day-and-date release on Max would also help cut down on user confusion as to the nature of the new service. It would bring customers into Max to try it out for themselves, so they could see first-hand their favorite HBO Max shows like “Succession,” “The White Lotus,” and “House of the Dragon” are all still there, alongside a new selection of titles from discovery+.
Unfortunately for Max, the chances of a day-and-date release of “The Flash” to streaming are practically nonexistent. The policy of releasing movies directly to streaming was one of the first things to go under the tenure of current WBD CEO David Zaslav, who took over when WarnerMedia was acquired by Discovery in spring of 2022. Since being installed in the top position, Zaslav has repeatedly made it clear that his company is committed to theatrical releases, and he doubled down on that position once again while speaking at Cinema Con.
“We do not believe in streaming movies,” the CEO bluntly told the hall full of movie theater owners, according to Deadline. “Movies [in theaters] perform substantially better when we bring them to HBO Max than any of the direct-to-streaming movies. We said it nine months ago, and we said it six moths ago. We have never felt stronger about it.”
Zaslav spoke about his desire to ramp up theatrical movie production at WBD, and is aiming to release around 20 movies every year. That’s music to the ears of cinema owners, who are still trying to climb out of the revenue black hole caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater industry is on the mend, seeing 37% higher revenues than at this time in 2022, but it still has a long road ahead of it to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
The traditionally symbiotic relationship between theaters and studios is a hard one to sever. The pandemic did its best, but these days it appears only Netflix is ready to say goodbye to the movie theater model forever. Adding “The Flash” to Max on the same day it arrives in theaters might be a huge boost for the service, but the corporate philosophy at WBD ensures that faint possibility will never be realized.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.