After Universal became the first studio to drop one of their 2020 releases on VOD first with “Trolls World Tour,” and after Disney did the same with “Mulan” and “Artemis Fowl” it is now Warner Bros.‘s turn to drop one of their fall releases straight to a streaming service. Sure, they dropped “Scoob!” on VOD earlier this year, but that wasn’t exactly a hot title. This time it is Robert Zemeckis‘ remake of Roald Dahl‘s “The Witches” that will skip theaters and head to the studios’ own streaming service HBO Max right in time for Halloween.
Warner Bros., gave the announcement on Friday via their HBO Max Twitter account, releasing the first official poster of the film and its new release date of October 22. Originally, the remake was scheduled to open on October 16, before being moved a week to October 9 and then taken off the theatrical release schedule back in June. the move to streaming is only in the U.S., however, as Warner Bros. also announced via Twitter that, internationally, the film will hit theaters “soon.”
The move makes sense. The release of Warner’s only big film this summer, “Tenet,” wasn’t as successful as many predicted, but most of its box office gross came from international markets. With theaters in major U.S. cities still closed, it’s easier to release the film on streaming, especially since the pandemic has affected HBO Max’s content at launch. But if one of the concerns for releasing “Tenet” internationally first was piracy, I can’t see how releasing “The Witches” on VOD first and having fans abroad wait weeks before seeing the film in theaters is going to be any better.
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Zemeckis’ remake of Roald Dahl’s 1983 book follows a young boy who stumbles upon a secret coven of witches planning to turn every child on the planet into a mouse. This time, the action will reportedly be moved to the Civil Rights-era South and “put a sociological spin on this kind of traditional witch story” according to Zemeckis. The film is co-written by Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro, who was originally meant to direct the film as a stop-motion film, and is now producing the remake alongside Alfonso Cuaron.