HBO Max is included in packages for some high-end phone and internet subscribers, and it exists, in part, to create consumer loyalty to AT&T.īut Hulu’s many corporate owners - Comcast, the Walt Disney Company and Fox - eventually forced Mr. Instead, the platform is a key part of its wireless business. Despite joining Hollywood in a big way last year, when it bought Time Warner for more than $80 billion, AT&T may not mind so much if it speeds the demise of the century-old moviegoing habit.įor AT&T, HBO Max isn’t just a convenient way to get films and television shows to the public. And AT&T is a telecommunications company whose interests are sometimes at odds with those of the old entertainment business. belongs to WarnerMedia, which is part of AT&T. Hollywood agents and filmmakers were angered by the move - but they may have forgotten something crucial: Warner Bros. broke with tradition by announcing that it would release its entire lineup of 2021 films on HBO Max - its struggling streaming service - on the same day they were scheduled to appear in theaters.

They’re the kind of movies that families, couples and teenagers once watched on three-story screens from the comfort of stadium-style seats, with the soundtrack’s bass notes rumbling at their feet. Kong”) a local hero who whips up frenzied dance routines across uptown rooftops (“In the Heights”). 2021 film slate suggests the studio’s big-screen ambitions: a desert-planet messiah who can kill with a word (“Dune”) a colossal clash between mutant monsters (“Godzilla vs.

Att business in a box review