Theatrical movies, those flicks that traditionally run in a cinema before they appear on any streaming site, certainly have been treated differently as of late. When the pandemic caused all movie houses to shutter, any movie surfacing had to come up with alternative methods to get in front of audiences. There was a dearth of movies for the longest time until production crews figured out how to do the craftwork while keeping participants safe. HBO has had that issue.
Traditionally, HBO slated a movie every Saturday night. Most often than not they were from Warner Bros. itself or one of its subsidiaries, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, Lionsgate or DC Films. We settled in that weekend night to watch the many titles. Over the years, of course, HBO had arrangements with other studios to air their respective slates as well. That all changed when each studio ended up with their own streaming sites. As previously mentioned, right now Warner has a contract to run 20th Century Studio films like Ron Gone Wrong, The Last Duel, Free Guy, and West Side Story. We went from feast to famine and now we are back to seeing more theatrical content once again.
What has resulted now is more movies than we have Saturdays. Well, we knew there were going to be changes once HBO Max dominated, and we’ll see more when Warner/Discovery takes hold under David Zaslav. Movies now upload days sometimes a good week before they arrive on HBO’s cable channel on Saturday. Some movies don’t get a premiere night on HBO’s channel at all. And now, new movies can debut on a Thursday (at the same time they are uploaded to the streaming site) or on a Friday. Sometimes there is more than one movie debuting in a week. It makes for a great slate of features but makes it confusing to figure out which movie you can watch where and when.
How we watch our content has greatly changed. HBOWatch has got to do its best to change with it and that is a work in progress. That includes keeping a better eye on what theatrical movies drop when. It is a little bit more work for us, but it is a great entertainment choice for all and HBO has always been known for that.
Feel free to let us know how you spend your time seeking out HBO’s movies. Do you just stream them at your pace or do you still seek out the Saturday night
movie? Perhaps if we get strong feedback, we will know best how to adapt our approach. Theatrical movies have always been a big part of HBO and we hope it stays that way. Since the premiere of Sometimes A Great Notion in 1971 movies had been the cornerstone of Home Box Office. For this writer, HBO was the first place I saw an R-rated movie, it was where I watched Star Wars dozens of times as it was the first network to air it. Plus, I can add many other titles that I watched there for the first time instead of in the cinema; they were classic movies like the original Halloween to the Godfather Trilogy. Thanks to the pandemic I can add more recent fare like Godzilla vs Kong, Dune and The Many Saints of Newark. There are plenty more on the horizon because there will always be movies on HBO, right Zaslav?
We will continue our reminders & reviews at HBOWatch. Seek out our Movie Schedule Page for the current offerings and continue to enjoy theatrical movies at HBO. It doesn’t matter if you wait until Saturday night or you watch as soon as it uploads on HBO Max. In the long run it all adds up to more movie content right in your own home box office and isn’t that a big part of what its all about here?
