Warner Bros To Produce 10 New Films Exclusively For HBO Max

Warner Bros will produce at least ten films in 2022 that will exclusively air through streaming service HBO Max.

This is due to a savvy play made by WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who oversees both Warner Bros film division and HBO Max.

“The motion-picture format absolutely matters and it matters in a number of ways,” Kilar said on the second-quarter earnings call of WarnerMedia parent AT&T.

“It matters in theatres … They also matter at home … We feel very good about the response that consumers have given it in the home.”

Kilar has been instrumental in breaking the usual theatrical windows between cinema and home releases, with Space Jam recently premiering simultaneously in cinemas and on HBO Max.

The films will only screen in cinemas if Warner plans an Oscars campaign for them – as the rules state a cinema release is needed for Oscars eligibility.

“In terms of where things go in the future, I think it’s fair to say that, and I’ve said this before publicly, I certainly don’t anticipate us going back to the way the world was in 2015 or 2016 or 2017, where windows were quite lengthy between theatrical and home exhibition whether it was an a la carte transaction or something else,” Kilar said.

This may be Kilar’s lasting legacy at the company, as he plans to leave WarnerMedia in mid-2022, after overseeing the Discovery merger.

HBO and HBO Max boast 67.5 million subscribers, globally.

Locally, HBO titles are tied in with the Showcase channel, available through Foxtel and Binge.