With Barbie continuing to shatter box office records as the film cements its status as a pop culture phenomenon, the big question is when can viewers start streaming the movie at home. Because the Greta Gerwig film is a Warner Bros. production, Barbie will ultimately land on Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. However, don’t expect the studio to stick to its shortened release window that caused a considerable amount of controversy during the COVID pandemic.
During a recent investors call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav offered a hint at when Barbie will start streaming, and it’s probably not as soon as fans were hoping.
Via Collider:
“We really believe in the motion picture window. Let this movie go to the motion picture window, play it up, build up that brand, then have it go into PVOD. Take it through these windows of economics that have worked forever, and we think work extremely well. And then put it on Max. And when it goes on Max, we think it’ll have a very good impact and that’ll be in the Fall.”
Since the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, Zaslav has been a vocal opponent of the previous regime’s release strategy, which infamously saw the studio dump its entire 2021 film slate onto HBO Max. That move caused Christopher Nolan to exit the studio and give Universal hit with Oppenheimer.
Warner Bros. then shifted to a 45-day release window before putting movies on HBO Max, but Zaslav has already determined that’s not long enough. Despite bombing at the box office, The Flash surprisingly dominated the PVOD charts, so clearly, Warner Bros. would like to see how well Barbie can do in that arena before delivering it to Max subscribers later this year.
Barbie is now playing in theaters.
(Via Collider)