Roku Users Are Feeling Left Out After Warner Bros. Decided To Release All 2021 Films On HBO Max

Warner Bros.‘ game-changing decision to release its entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max is causing all kinds of mixed emotions over the troubled future of movie theaters and the excitement of being able to see blockbusters from the safety of your couch during the pandemic. However, there’s one group of movie fans that’s feeling left out in the cold: Roku users. While HBO Max recently struck a deal to stream on Amazon Fire TV devices, it has yet to come to an agreement with Roku, which means the app is currently unavailable for millions of users. (Well, technically, there is a workaround to stream HBO Max on a Roku device, but it won’t work for everybody.)

So with the Warner Bros. news out in the open, Roku users took to Twitter to voice their feelings on missing out on the party:

While some Roku users are feeling left out, there are others who feel this latest news will be the final catalyst for HBO and Roku to come to an agreement. And while some feel that having Warner Bros. entire 2021 film slate gives HBO an advantage, Roku is still holding access to millions of streaming users that HBO Max is going to need with this new release strategy. So, it’ll be very interesting to see how the situation unfolds, and whether it can be done before Wonder Woman 1984 hits HBO Max on December 25.

While most reactions centered on a (hopefully) pending HBO Max/Roku deal in light of Warner shifting its release strategy to streaming, The Atlantic‘s David Sims tweeted this dark, philosophical musing: “What if theaters are murdered just because Warners forgot to make a deal with Roku and Amazon before launching HBO Max?” Granted, the pandemic is a major factor here, but wow, that’s something to chew on while we all wait to stream The Suicide Squad in our pajama pants.