Max (Streaming Service)

[Nick]

Wonder Woman 84 is trending at #5 on Twitter, with Pedro Pascal at #18 (as of 3pm PST). In terms of category rankings on the appstore, HBOM current edges out Disney+ at 15th place compared to D's 18 (Hulu at 37, Netflix at 11). For comparison, HBOM was at 15 when the West Wing special happened - ahead of D+ and even Netflix - but there was less competition among the big streamers.

Look to next week to see if anyone at T or Warners crows about it. These could presage good numbers but the onus will be on Kilar to show that this move was worth multiple blockbusters and potentially key talent relations.

I have to say, as far as App Store position goes, that’s pretty weak for HBO Max to only be 3 spots ahead of D+ when you’d think a lot of people would be downloading it today and many already have Disney+. The lower Netflix position makes sense as almost everyone has that downloaded already.

My interest will be - how many people who signed up for HBO Max for WW84 stay signed up come next month when it’s time to renew?

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Warner Bros has really got to stop hedging their bets on single films to prop up entire distribution channels.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

I'm curious what the audience reaction will be for WW84. Now that more critics are seeing the film past WB's initial selection, the film has fallen down to 59 on Metacritic and 69% on RT (enough to lose its certified fresh distinction). The audience score after 7 hours is 79%. The acclaim WW84 has pales in comparison to Soul, so I imagine the latter will be the first choice for a lot of families.

 

[Nick]

Warner Bros has really got to stop hedging their bets on single films to prop up entire distribution channels.

Yeah, streaming is driven by shows, not movies.

 

[RevFreako]

Eh, the issues with Gadot are larger than the Imagine video. Wonder Woman is banned in many countries due to Gadot's service in the IDF, but this issue doesn't extend far beyond the Arab world. The larger problem with Wonder Woman's worldwide appeal lies within its brand recognition overseas. The first film wasn't big in many regions, and as we're seeing with WW84's performance in Asian countries where the box office has returned to normal, interest has dropped off. I think WW84 will boost HBO Max subscriptions just fine, but the performance over Christmas won't paint a full picture of how the day and date strategy will work over the next year.

To be fair, you're talking mostly about China, which is presently pushing local films uber alles. Everything fr the US is ubderperforming thrre right nle

The name you are thinking about in regards to Disney/MLB Media was BAMTech. Disney has recently renamed BAMTech to be called Disney Streaming Services once they gained full control of Hulu.

And Bamtech also ran the WWE Network. Its live stress test was Wrestlemania. Disney+ will never crash from stress.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I'm curious what the audience reaction will be for WW84. Now that more critics are seeing the film past WB's initial selection, the film has fallen down to 59 on Metacritic and 69% on RT (enough to lose its certified fresh distinction). The audience score after 7 hours is 79%. The acclaim WW84 has pales in comparison to Soul, so I imagine the latter will be the first choice for a lot of families.

To be fair...Pixar with the exceptions of Good Dinosaur and Onward usually kills it with scores because they make almost perfect movies that make people cry.

Maybe its just me but I really don't know what Critic's want if they didn't like WW, Villains that aren't just CGI aliens and have real goals and a good lessons for kids and adults with cool action....what the hell else do they want from a super hero film.

 

[Nick]

To be fair...Pixar with the exceptions of Good Dinosaur and Onward usually kills it with scores because they make almost perfect movies that make people cry.

Maybe its just me but I really don't know what Critic's want if they didn't like WW, Villains that aren't just CGI aliens and have real goals and a good lessons for kids and adults with cool action....what the hell else do they want from a super hero film.

I’ll never be a fan of The Good Dinosaur and Onward is in no way my favorite and honestly is a bit too BlueSky/Dreamworks for me, in terms of setting. But even Onward was a pretty good movie.

It’s the Cars movies that are trash.

 

[JawsVictim]

I’ll never be a fan of The Good Dinosaur and Onward is in no way my favorite and honestly is a bit too BlueSky/Dreamworks for me, in terms of setting. But even Onward was a pretty good movie.

It’s the Cars movies that are trash.

Hot takes. Having never watched Cars until this year, I always thought they were trash too. 1 and 3 are pretty good. 2 is garbage. The Good Dinosaur and Onward are low tier Pixar, but still better than any Dreamworks feature I’ve seen (I have yet to watch HTTYD).

Anyways, loving classic cartoons on HBOMax. Almost completed classic Scooby Doo and moving on to The Jetsons next. No interest in WW84, but am highly curious if/when Tenet gets released for streaming. Honestly wanted to hold off until getting to see it in Imax, but now I’m ready for anything new from one of my favorite film directors.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Hot takes. Having never watched Cars until this year, I always thought they were trash too. 1 and 3 are pretty good. 2 is garbage. The Good Dinosaur and Onward are low tier Pixar, but still better than any Dreamworks feature I’ve seen (I have yet to watch HTTYD).

Anyways, loving classic cartoons on HBOMax. Almost completed classic Scooby Doo and moving on to The Jetsons next. No interest in WW84, but am highly curious if/when Tenet gets released for streaming. Honestly wanted to hold off until getting to see it in Imax, but now I’m ready for anything new from one of my favorite film directors.

Off topic but I can't let this slide

Shrek 1 and 2, HTTYD and Kunfu Panda 1 and 2 are TOP Tier Films. While Pixar are kind in there own league I enjoy Dreamworks when it Trys and isn't making Trolls/Madagascar which are fine kids movies but not great family films are a solid studio. Watch Kunfu Panda 2 and tell me it's not a top tier animated or not.


(also shout out to Puss in boots a really fun action films and sucks they didn't make more and made the cheaper looking cartoon)

 

[RevFreako]

Hot takes. Having never watched Cars until this year, I always thought they were trash too. 1 and 3 are pretty good. 2 is garbage. The Good Dinosaur and Onward are low tier Pixar, but still better than any Dreamworks feature I’ve seen (I have yet to watch HTTYD).

Anyways, loving classic cartoons on HBOMax. Almost completed classic Scooby Doo and moving on to The Jetsons next. No interest in WW84, but am highly curious if/when Tenet gets released for streaming. Honestly wanted to hold off until getting to see it in Imax, but now I’m ready for anything new from one of my favorite film directors.

Cars 2 becomes a much better movie if you think of it as a dream Mater had, that he's then describing to Lightning.

 

[Nick]

So turns out I got a 30-day free trial with Cyberpunk 2077, so I guess I will check out WW84. Legally. You just won’t see me paying any money for it

 

[Tobias]

Cars 2 becomes a much better movie if you think of it as a dream Mater had, that he's then describing to Lightning.

Agreed, if this was presented as a feature length "Mater's Tall Tales" with McQueen cutting in to question the story now and then, I think it would've been better received as any shenanigan's with the story is totally understandable due to who's narrating it.

 

[Nick]

I'm curious what the audience reaction will be for WW84. Now that more critics are seeing the film past WB's initial selection, the film has fallen down to 59 on Metacritic and 69% on RT (enough to lose its certified fresh distinction). The audience score after 7 hours is 79%. The acclaim WW84 has pales in comparison to Soul, so I imagine the latter will be the first choice for a lot of families.

Update on this:
WW84's critic score is down to 65% on RT with the audience score down to 74%. On Metacritic, the score remains at 59, with the User score sitting at 4.8/10.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Update on this:
WW84's critic score is down to 65% on RT with the audience score down to 74%. On Metacritic, the score remains at 59, with the User score sitting at 4.8/10.

It also got a B+ CinemaScore theatrically, which is on the lower end of DCEU films.

 

[rageofthegods]

It also got a B+ CinemaScore theatrically, which is on the lower end of DCEU films.

B+ cinemascore is disastrous for blockbuster movies that aren't deliberately trying to be gritty (Joker, Birds of Prey). It's Rise of Skywalker or Crimes of Grindelwald level.

This probably would've been a disaster in normal times.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

B+ cinemascore is disastrous for blockbuster movies that aren't deliberately trying to be gritty (Joker, Birds of Prey). It's Rise of Skywalker or Crimes of Grindelwald level.

This probably would've been a disaster in normal times.

It's also worth mentioning that the Letterboxd score for WW84 is down to 2.8/5 after being at 3.4 on Friday, and its RT audience score is now at 72%. If this had a normal theatrical release in June, it would've went below 300M domestically unless the opening weekend was around 140M. The worldwide drops would've been horrible as well since the first film wasn't big overseas. A worldwide gross below 500M wouldn't have been too far fetched.

Even without a normal theatrical release, WW84's reception hurts the future of the franchise and HBO Max's potential growth. Anyone who was on the fence about subscribing to HBO Max just for WW84 won't touch the service now, and with no big releases until summer, the day-and-date strategy will have lost significant buzz, especially if Godzilla vs Kong and Dune are theatrical-only.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I'll come back for Space Jam....but yeah they need more shows people care about.

I bought watch men the TV series for the same price as one month of the service...so don't need to come back for that.


While maybe not ideal...I wonder if they recut Game of Thrones with Deleted scenes like Peacock is doing with the Office if that could be something they could market and get people back.

 

[Jamesh22]

I'll come back for Space Jam....but yeah they need more shows people care about.

I bought watch men the TV series for the same price as one month of the service...so don't need to come back for that.


While maybe not ideal...I wonder if they recut Game of Thrones with Deleted scenes like Peacock is doing with the Office if that could be something they could market and get people back.

I think the final season of GOT ended most people's need to rewach any of the fanastic seasons that came before it.

They do need a compelling series or 2 though. I could go for the 'House of Dragons' or a second season of Watchmen. Something event worthy.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

My friend from college watched WW84 and said it was awful. She particularly hated the tropiness of Baraba. That said, neither her nor her family are movie people, and the movie's mere existence got her family to sign up for HBO Max. So, net win for Warners I guess?

 

[rageofthegods]

I'm impressed with the theatrical opening of WW84 and the preliminary data from SensorTower looks pretty good. However, the film's word of mouth is going to hurt uptake as the week goes on.

Overall this experiment is exceeding my expectations. Won't make predictions about the rest of 2021 or how Warner's strategy shakes out though.