HBO Max has become known for streaming new movies when they hit theaters, thanks to the unprecedented number of films streaming there at no extra …
HBO Max has become known for streaming new movies when they hit theaters, thanks to the unprecedented number of films streaming there at no extra cost the same day they hit US theaters. But this weekend’s biggest release — Candyman, — isn’t immediately available to stream on HBO Max, Netflix or anywhere for that matter. (But Candyman will land at HBO Max, eventually.) That’s because HBO Max is streaming only Warner Bros. movies the same day, and Candyman is distributed by another company. The latest two, The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence, are streaming on HBO Max now. HBO Max made waves last year when it announced that it would stream new, theatrically released movies from Warner Bros. studio at no extra charge the same day they hit the big screen during 2021. That included The Suicide Squad and Space Jam: A New Legacy, as well as upcoming releases Dune and The Matrix 4. But it also means movies from any other studio won’t. The strategy is causing some misguided hope among moviegoers when any new movie hits theaters. Without knowing the studio distributing that new flick, lots of people get curious that maybe it’s one of the movies available on HBO Max too. Warner Bros. movies have the direct pipeline to Max because HBO Max and Warner Bros. are both owned and operated by AT&T’s WarnerMedia. They’re siblings, essentially. But it’s worth noting that this hybrid strategy is unique to Warner Bros. and HBO. No other Hollywood studios are being this aggressive in putting this many movies (including megabudget ones) on a streaming service immediately at no extra charge. The hybrid release strategy is so aggressive, in fact, that WarnerMedia is ending it after 2021. Starting in 2022, Warner Bros. movies are expected to have a 45-day window exclusively in theaters before moving to other formats like online rentals and HBO Max.
