- Warner Bros. is working on agreements for new payments to filmmakers and their teams, based in part on HBO Max’s streaming fees, according to several reports.
- The deals “would increase the chances of performance-based bonuses” for box office sales, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.
- Legendary Entertainment’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” is at the center of current negotiations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
- “I strongly believe that the future of cinema will be on the screen, no matter what any Wall Street dilettante says,” wrote Denis Villeneuve, director of “Dune”, at Variety in December.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Warner Bros. is agreeing to new payment structures for filmmakers and their teams based in part on HBO Max’s streaming fees, according to several reports.
In December, the studio surprised Hollywood by announcing that its entire 2021 line would be launched on its streaming service HBO Max. The films, including “The Matrix 4”, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” and “Dune”, will arrive to the cinemas on the same days of its debut.
Now Warner Bros. is in the process of changing agreements with partners to “guarantee payment regardless of box office sales and increase the chances of performance-based bonuses,” Bloomberg said on Saturday.
Read More: The executive in charge of HBO Max analyzes the decision that shook Hollywood to release all Warner Bros. films. 2021 for streaming and cinemas simultaneously: ‘Predictability is very important’
These bonuses have traditionally been associated with box office success. There are several films on Warner Bros. ‘2021 release list. that would have been considered support if they were released in cinemas in a more traditional way.
Legendary Entertainment’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” is at the center of the negotiations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Forbes said the film had a monstrous budget of about $ 180 million, while The Hollywood Reporter said it was close to $ 200 million. It is expected to earn more than that if it is released exclusively in theaters. It’s a sequel to “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Kong: Skull Island”, which grossed $ 387 million and $ 567 million, respectively, in theaters around the world, according to Box Office Mojo.
Legendary tried to sell “Godzilla vs. Kong” to Netflix for $ 225 million, but Warner Bros. disrupted the deal, according to Forbes. Now, it looks like Warner Bros. and Legendary can make a deal.
Under the agreement, HBO Max would pay Warner Bros. a fee for streaming movies, some of which would go to film production partners, filmmakers, casts and crews, according to Bloomberg.
The deal would also halve the box office sales value a film would need to achieve before partners could start earning bonuses, according to Bloomberg.
It is not clear from the reports whether all filmmakers and producers involved with Warner Bros. ‘2021 releases. agree to the new agreement.
“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve, for example, wrote a scathing essay on Variety after Max’s announcement on HBO. He said the decision by AT&T, the corporate controller of Warner Bros., was a “sacrifice”.
“I strongly believe that the future of cinema will be on the screen, no matter what any Wall Street dilettante says,” wrote Villeneuve.
HBO Max released “Wonder Woman 1984” on Christmas Day, the same day it opened in theaters. The film grossed more than $ 16 million in its first weekend, the best debut during the pandemic.
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer, is a board member of Netflix.