Streaming services help keep some blockbusters locked on the movie schedule

The box office schedule is changing again. Over the past day, more than a dozen Hollywood titles have been moved from the slate, moving up to later in the year or 2022, due to the Covid pandemic.

Cinema owners, who in December were hoping to hold out until March for a slew of new blockbuster movies, are watching Sony, Disney and MGM postpone the big movies.

On Thursday, the latest James Bond film, MGM’s “No Time to Die” was pushed back from April to October, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” moved to November and Sony’s “Morbius” and “Uncharted” are released in 2022. On Friday, Disney moved half a dozen films, including “The King’s Man,” later in the year or removed them from the schedule entirely.

The few films that remain in February and March relate to streaming releases. AT&T / Warner Bros. ‘“Tom and Jerry” hits HBO Max and theaters on February 26, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” will debut in theaters and on Disney + for $ 30 on March 5, and AT&T / Warner Bros. ‘“Godzilla v. Kong” hits HBO Max and theaters March 26.

Lions Gate’s “Chaos Walking” is the only major movie release without a streaming plan.

“[Warner Bros.] made the right choice from the start, “said Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations.” They might not have gone through the proper channels and may have ruffled a few feathers in the process, but make no mistake, WB is the only non-Disney studio that’s getting stronger and stronger at the same time. in theaters in a safe and responsible manner. “

The United States records at least 187,500 new cases of Covid-19 and at least 3,050 virus-related deaths each day, based on seven-day average calculated by CNBC using data from the University Johns Hopkins.

While President Joe Biden has pledged to speed up vaccines across the country, only around 17.5 million doses have been administered so far.

Studios fear the continued rise in coronavirus cases will drive moviegoers away from movie theaters even with new titles being shown on big screens. Many of these films have large production budgets and rely on strong ticket sales to break even.

However, studios that offer streaming services have a safety net, Bock said. For Warner Bros., the dual theatrical release and on HBO Max allows it to bolster subscriber registrations and make money from ticket sales.

How successful this strategy has been is unknown, as “Wonder Woman 1984” is, so far, the only Warner Bros. movie. to come out that way. AT&T is expected to release its quarterly results next week, so analysts will likely have a better idea of ​​how the film is performing for the company.

Disney’s release of “Raya and the Last Dragon” is also a first. Previously, the company had released “Mulan” on Disney + for a bounty of $ 30 but hadn’t released it in theaters at the same time. Disney has yet to comment on “Mulan’s” performance for the company.

“It will be difficult for theaters,” Bock said. “[They] will have to rely on independent distributors at least until May. “

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC. Universal is releasing “No Time To Die” internationally, while MGM is handling the national release.