Analysis: Streaming vs the Theater
During the first years of the pandemic, HBO Max led the charge to bring movies home, as theaters were unavailable. This, famously, created a major debate. Even at Tom’s Guide, we’ve written on the subject, opining about how Nope is best in theaters and on the decline of the movie theater experience. Now that theaters are back open, studios are focused more on those releases than ever, with Warner Bros. Discovery killing off the straight-to-HBO Max Batgirl movie. Companies, it seems, believe movies serve them best in theaters. For evidence, just look at how the biggest movie of the year, Top Gun: Maverick, took off in theaters on May 27, and took nearly 3 months to hit video-on-demand (August 23) before its DVD date (October 31) and its impending streaming date (Dec. 22). All while continuing to make money at the box office. At one point, there was a rush to deliver all of the movies possible to the streaming services, as a way to keep them propped up. Now, the priorities have swung the other way. Netflix gave Knives Out sequel Glass Onion a week in theaters, which serves a few purposes. Not only does it pull in cash and open the movie for award eligibility, but it also promotes the upcoming streaming release.
