While filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve hated it, for these of us who spent 2021 not notably eager on visiting the skin world, Warner Bros.’ choice to launch all of its 2021 cinematic choices in theaters and on HBO Max concurrently has been a delight. The operative phrases listed here are “has been,” as a result of in the intervening time, WB has no plans to do the identical in 2022.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff introduced the corporate’s myriad films will likely be initially solely launched in theaters, it doesn’t matter what’s happening with the pandemic, at a Bloomsberg convention earlier right now: “Have we thought about going back to day and date? Sure, we thought about it, but we have made our commitments to the theaters [and] the agents [and] the talent,” mentioned the CEO. “Everyone was hoping we would be on the other side of the pandemic by now.”

Me too, Ann! But we’ve very a lot not on the opposite aspect, not least as a result of it’s been blocked off by a viral bully named the omicron variant. Still, if WB signed contracts promising a theatrical-only launch and tried to renege on the deal, they’d be inviting the type of lawsuits that Scarlett Johansson slapped on Disney when the corporate determined to launch Black Widow on the Disney+ streaming service alongside theaters, which elevated subscribers at the price of cannibalizing ticket gross sales—and the cash Johansson would have made with a theatrical solely launch.

All of this implies I’m not going to be watching quite a lot of films I might have fortunately (and safely) seen in my house. Next 12 months’s WB film slate consists of The Batman, The Flash, the Aquaman sequel, Black Adam, and DC League of Super-Pets, simply to call the DC superhero movies. The studio’s different nerdy films due subsequent 12 months embrace the Salem’s Lot remake and a sure movie from a completely un-Fantastic TERF.

Of course, Warner Bros. can all the time change its thoughts, and it might be compelled to, relying on how the pandemic continues to not finish. We’ll see.

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