Warner Brothers Exec John Stankey Remains Uncertain in Pandemic Response Strategy

Warner Brothers Remains Uncertain in Pandemic Response Strategy

During AT&T’s third quarter earnings call, CEO John Stankey said he foresees a “choppy” recovery for the film industry, which has been forcing WarnerMedia to weigh various different scenarios for theatrical releases in the 2020 holiday season.

Stankey said that WarnerMedia’s decision to release the Christopher Nolan drama Tenet in the U.S. on September 3rd was ill advised. But he added that he does not regret being the first major studio to release a prestige piece in theaters during the pandemic.

“I can’t tell you walked away from the ‘Tenet’ experience saying it was a home run,” Stankey told a group of investors on Thursday, adding that “we’re happy we did it.”

Stankey said the holiday season will be “the next check point” that will determine whether Warner Bros. will be able to release more films in theaters. Right now the studio is counting on releasing Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day. Stankey added that his studio is considering “plan A, plan B and plan C” for their theatrical release calendar and will need to “make a game time decision on some of that.” WarnerMedia’s decision will be partly determined by pandemic conditions in different regions of the U.S. as well as major overseas markets.

“We’re still committed to putting some of the content we think is most important into a theatrical channel if that makes sense,” Stankey said; though he cautioned that the studio is “not expecting … a huge recovery in theatrical. We’re expecting it to continue to be choppy.”

Stankey was also hesitant to commit to moving major movie titles to HBO Max — a move that Disney has made with success — to respond to the difficult circumstances that have shuttered theaters across the country.

He said about 180 projects were in production when the COVID19 initially hit, though now about the majority have resumed production. “We’re well back into that ramp back up,” Stankey said, adding “We’re far enough along that the confidence level of employees is growing day by day that we can protect the safety of individuals and still get work done. We’re out of the woods at this point from being dead cold in the middle of the pandemic to where we feel we can get hours produced.”

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