Last month it was announced the Warner Bros. would release Wonder Woman 1984 simultaneously in theaters and to streaming on HBO Max. Now, in an unexpected move, Warner Bros. has announced that they would release their 2021 slate of movies in theaters and on HBO Max.

The movies released to HBO Max will run for 31 days on the service before being removed and continuing to run in cinemas only.

Now I should note that a similar simultaneous release did occur earlier this year with Bill and Ted Face the Music, and Disney has gone the other direction by releasing movies like Mulan and Soul to Disney+ only, but obviously that doesn’t compare to releasing an entire slate of films.

This is certainly an unusual and unprecedented move, motivated I’d imagine, by safety concerns for COVID-19 and likely as a means to give a boost to HBO Max streaming numbers.

On the one hand, I think for safety’s sake, providing an option to those that don’t want to risk exposure seems good on paper. On the other hand, we know that theaters need movies and need people to want to attend said movies to stay afloat.

This move is meant to only be for the year of 2021, but the big question is “how will this affect cinemas moving forward?”

Stocks for theaters fell following Warner Bros. announcement and this is already following the nightmare year that 2020 has been for the industry.

The reality is we’re still in a pandemic and people’s safety should be a priority. And until we have a viable vaccine, I feel movie theaters are likely to have a very difficult 2021. And the same goes for studios like Warner Bros. Movies tend to lose value the longer they sit on the shelf.

I hope movie theaters can survive. I love going to the movies. It is an experience I enjoying sharing with friends and family. And some of those post movie conversations on the drive home were really fun, memorable and engaging.