Movies premiering on HBO Max might not happen again for a long time

The reports of the demise of movie theaters are greatly exaggerated. During the early days of the pandemic, multiple businesses were forced to contend with a new paradigm that threatened their existence. Barring any business owned by a billionaire, most of whom became even wealthier during quarantine, countless companies had to reconfigure their business model to survive the uncertainty that was 2020 and 2021. One of the industries that had arguably the biggest uphill battle on their hands was movie theaters.

After already looking at their own potential obsolescence by grappling with the quality and accessibility of home theaters prior to the pandemic, cinemas and film studios found themselves struggling to make ends meet in 2020. In a desperate bid for survival, many film studios began to premier their blockbuster movies on streaming services. Although Disney dabbled in the idea, which ultimately earned them a lawsuit from Scarlett Johansson, HBO Max became synonymous with movie premieres on their streaming platform. According to Variety, Warner Brothers. Discovery CEO David Zaslav doesn't see HBO Max hosting any more movie premieres anytime soon. 

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav came to Las Vegas to put all of his chips on movie theaters.

The executive made an appearance at CinemaCon, the annual convention of theatrical exhibitors, to reassure the crowd that the Warner Bros. Pictures Group was not interested in releasing its premium movies directly to streaming platform Max.

"At Warner Bros., at DC Studios, we believe that everything is possible. This business could be bigger and stronger than its ever been," Zaslav said on stage at Caesar's Palace on Tuesday. "We believe in full windowing of the motion pictures. We do not want to do direct-to-streaming movies. We're in no rush to bring the movie to Max."