Wonder Woman 1984 General Discussion and Speculation - Part 2

[Micromind]

So about HBO Max..... now I 'm sure many people would consider getting a subscription to it in US.

This is big news....

 

[UncleSam1776]

The "we support movie theaters" narrative died real fast.

 

[David Alexander]

The mandalorian is enough for most people to get that.

People get Disney plus for the children content and the cheap price. I just got a year subscription for about 60 bucks and so far it’s been worth every penny. My younger kids love it. The problem with HBO Max is that it is not available on all platforms. My teenage daughter has chrome and all she watches now is HBO Max. Both platforms are good.

 

[dhandler01]

So about HBO Max..... now I 'm sure many people would consider getting a subscription to it in US.

This is big news....

I just came here to post this nice work. This is (probably) the first smart decision WB has made when it comes to Max. 2021 is going to be an awful year at the cinema here even if the vaccine becomes available and widespread in the first quarter. Theaters are in serious danger with or without moves like this...

Day and Date release is smart, it doesnt stop people from going to the theater if they want (which many of us will) but it also gets people to sign up for Max for exclusive content if they don't trust going to the theater. (or want to pay for a movie) It is like being an AMC Stubs Premiere member...you pay a flat fee and can watch 3 movies a week so you try out more. Same thing happens here only people can see ALL THE CONTENT not just the films they bought.

This is short term pain for long term gain. Even better when you consider that the short term pain was gonna hit either way. For once, they employed forward thinking and the idea might actually benefit them.

(I speak only for the US obviously. Next step is to expand Max or create partnership deals with VOD services abroad)

As long as they don't get greedy like Disney+ did with Mulan this could be a very solid move for everyone involved.

 

[flickchick85]

The "we support movie theaters" narrative died real fast.

Let’s be real, that died as soon as the Paramount decree was overturned earlier this year. Now if the theater chains fail, the studios can buy them to “save” them and get all the pie. That wasn’t the case at the start of this pandemic.

 

[dhandler01]

Let’s be real, that died as soon as the Paramount decree was overturned earlier this year. Now if the theater chains fail, the studios can buy them to “save” them and get all the pie. That wasn’t the case at the start of this pandemic.

Oh snap I didn't even think of that

 

[Micromind]

The "we support movie theaters" narrative died real fast.

That narrative died after Nolan's movie tanked.

 

[UncleSam1776]

 

[dhandler01]

The rumor that film would go streaming broke days ago. If they weren't aware they weren't paying attention.

 

[UncleSam1776]

The rumor that film would go streaming broke days ago. If they weren't aware they weren't paying attention.

WarnerMedia has to bid for it so they can put on HBO Max. Legendary paid 75 percent of the budget of Godzilla vs. Kong.

 

[dhandler01]

I know but there is no chance they were caught off guard. I almost posted it here over weekend and I have zero sources.

 

[metaphysician]

Help me out here. Is there a rule that a streaming service has to do gangbusters out of the gate in order to be successful in the long run? You guys are treating the subscription rates of a streaming service like box office number reports and they are not the same thing. Unlike a single movie, buzz for a streaming platform can happen later. Its not front loaded like movies are.

In theory you have a point. In practice, there is the problem of virtuous and vicious circles. A streaming service doing poorly out of the gate means it brings in less money, and thus has a harder time funding compelling content to get people to sign up later. . . or stay signed up. Its also has fewer subscribers, which makes it a harder pitch to third parties for acquiring content, or negotiating licensing deals. What's more, even independent of anything you do, all your competitors are doing stuff, including the ten ton gorillas, and the market is changing. "We'll catch up later" doesn't work if "later" is when, say, Netflix and Disney have tied up 90% of the market, and pricing has made adding additional services prohibitive for the average consumer. A new streaming service really needs to get in while the market is still in the expansion phase, because once the market shifts into consolidation/competition, the only way to grow would be to take market share from the giants who already have it.

 

[geosphere]

In theory you have a point. In practice, there is the problem of virtuous and vicious circles. A streaming service doing poorly out of the gate means it brings in less money, and thus has a harder time funding compelling content to get people to sign up later. . . or stay signed up. Its also has fewer subscribers, which makes it a harder pitch to third parties for acquiring content, or negotiating licensing deals. What's more, even independent of anything you do, all your competitors are doing stuff, including the ten ton gorillas, and the market is changing. "We'll catch up later" doesn't work if "later" is when, say, Netflix and Disney have tied up 90% of the market, and pricing has made adding additional services prohibitive for the average consumer. A new streaming service really needs to get in while the market is still in the expansion phase, because once the market shifts into consolidation/competition, the only way to grow would be to take market share from the giants who already have it.

something tells me we're not quite yet in the "consolidation phase" and to be honest it may take some time before we get to that stage. That is not to say its not fast approaching. ...but I'm pretty sure we're not there yet. I do appreciate your point and agree with a lot of it for the most part.

 

[geosphere]

So about HBO Max..... now I 'm sure many people would consider getting a subscription to it in US.

This is big news....

We probably won't know the updated numbers anytime soon but something tells me there was a positive public reaction to the earlier Wonder Woman news that has resulted in this decision. I know from my personal experience finding out Wonder Woman was coming to HBO Max got me to pull the trigger pretty much the moment I found out it was going to be on there. And honestly, As far as I have been able to tell, people seem to be pretty excited about it. That is why I was so surprised when I came here and found so many of you were so upset. I mean, I get it, I am a DC fan and I wanted to see WW84 make a billion dollars and felt that it definitely would(if we weren't living in a pandemic). So at first I was a little taken a back when the news broke but I realized pretty quickly that it was actually a smart decision for them. DC fans should be happy that the future of DC is pretty solid and as I said earlier the future of Warner Media(and at&t) looks pretty solid as a result of this too.

Interestingly enough I ran into an article this morning before the news that broke today came out. It was talking about the positive financial state of AT&T right now and how their decisions as of late seems to be paying dividends. Here are a couple excerpts from the article

• AT&T looks likely to outperform over the next year.
• AT&T is doing a good job of managing its sizable debt, and the debt market is accommodating continued refinancing.
• AT&T's HBO Max streaming service has the potential to become a strong tailwind going forward.
• AT&T's dividend appears not in any immediate jeopardy. The company is likely to continue minor increases.

Another tailwind could be AT&T extending the reach of HBO Max. While somewhat late to the streaming service war, HBO entered it with a reasonably well-known brand. Many people have been paying for HBO for years, or even decades. AT&T is now tempting new subscribers by offering Wonder Woman 1984 on the service for Christmas. The company will now have a simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release date for Wonder Woman 1984 on December 25, 2020, which appears to be a decent way to juice those subscriber numbers just before the end of the quarter.

Does AT&T have to get their **** together on many aspects of how they're rolling out HBO Max, sure. But for the most part they're making money moves and they are definitely at the very least going to be among the top three of the "streaming war" services when all is said and done. They just have too many high end properties(that people love) to offer for that to not be the case.

 

[dhandler01]

I can only speak for my circle of friends but they are all excited because they're was no chance they were going to a theater before next Spring at earliest.

 

[Detective Conan]

Here’s some good HBO Max-related news for you non-Americans here.

HBO Max Plotting Local International Originals Based On DC Comics IP As WarnerMedia Steps Up Global Rollout Of Streaming Service

This comes as Head of HBO Max Global Andy Forssell revealed that it would start rolling out the HBO Max service in Europe next year, building on its plans to launch mid-year in Latin America.

“We will and need to be a global service. It’s an imperative to achieve scale,” Forssell said. “In the second half of 2021, you’ll see us start to upgrade some of the existing direct to consumer HBO services in Europe to HBO Max, double the content, a lot more capabilities, so by the end of the year both of those regions will be very active. The plan is to be in 190 countries, it’s just how fast can we do that roll-out.”

“We will and need to be a global service. It’s an imperative to achieve scale,” Forssell said. “In the second half of 2021, you’ll see us start to upgrade some of the existing direct to consumer HBO services in Europe to HBO Max, double the content, a lot more capabilities, so by the end of the year both of those regions will be very active. The plan is to be in 190 countries, it’s just how fast can we do that roll-out.”

 

[Micromind]

Here’s some good HBO Max-related news for you non-Americans here.

HBO Max Plotting Local International Originals Based On DC Comics IP As WarnerMedia Steps Up Global Rollout Of Streaming Service

This comes as Head of HBO Max Global Andy Forssell revealed that it would start rolling out the HBO Max service in Europe next year, building on its plans to launch mid-year in Latin America.

“We will and need to be a global service. It’s an imperative to achieve scale,” Forssell said. “In the second half of 2021, you’ll see us start to upgrade some of the existing direct to consumer HBO services in Europe to HBO Max, double the content, a lot more capabilities, so by the end of the year both of those regions will be very active. The plan is to be in 190 countries, it’s just how fast can we do that roll-out.”

“We will and need to be a global service. It’s an imperative to achieve scale,” Forssell said. “In the second half of 2021, you’ll see us start to upgrade some of the existing direct to consumer HBO services in Europe to HBO Max, double the content, a lot more capabilities, so by the end of the year both of those regions will be very active. The plan is to be in 190 countries, it’s just how fast can we do that roll-out.”

They have to get this service in Asia, no way they can ignore the huge market.

 

[Micromind]

HBO Max Ends Free Trial Offer Ahead of 'Wonder Woman 1984' Premiere - Variety

 

[Detective Conan]

They have to get this service in Asia, no way they can ignore the huge market.

True, that is a very important market. I’m more than sure they’re working on making the service available in that territory.

 

[Micromind]

New Poster.

 

[Iceman]

Wonder Woman 1984 Japan poster.

Nice! That’s quite different to what I’ve seen so far.

 

[Iceman]

New Poster.

Cool. I’m liking the gold armour posters. I wonder how long she’ll wear that in the film.

 

[metaphysician]

something tells me we're not quite yet in the "consolidation phase" and to be honest it may take some time before we get to that stage. That is not to say its not fast approaching. ...but I'm pretty sure we're not there yet. I do appreciate your point and agree with a lot of it for the most part.

Oh, we aren't to the consolidation phase yet, no. However, nobody can meaningfully predict when that changeover will start to happen, so WB can't comfortably go "We have five years to enact our five year plan."

Realistically, I think WB would be muddling along somewhat anyway, since because. . . basically, they really needed to have started the transition to their own streaming service several years ago. And by "transition" I mean "stop establishing incompatible licensing deals with other streaming services that keep you from bringing your own product under your own roof". Even if they converted all their prior services into one unified HBO Max, even if they marketed it and rolled it out worldwide, they still would be stuck with content gaps that would hobble them compared to the major competitors.

 

[geosphere]

I guess it remains to be seen...

 

[emielaen]

@geosphere. I think what a lot of us are arguing is with the arsenal HBO Max has it should have done better out the gate. Its a GREAT streaming service, the content is PACKED with stuff for everyone, acclaimed movies, indie movies, DC content, cartoons, anime, cartoon network, adult swim, Sesame Street, Gone with the Wind and the entire HBO series library—its got tons going for it and it should be doing better.

Yes. It probably has the widest range of variety without overly compromising quality, but it also has things that people love and can binge that are just network comedies and ****.

It just doesn't have the massive names attached like Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, etc and it seems like they weren't going all in on marketing because they didn't have much new stuff yet which is strange. I don't ****ing know, but they'll HAVE to make the Roku deal before the 25th AND put more into marketing which is now inevitable considering the films releasing there as well.

This is for the long run though. They'll be fighting an uphill battle against Disney and Netflix regardless at this point.