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when it was announced that WW 1984 would debut on HBO Max alongside a limited theatrical launch. She noted that the time had come to put her personal desires aside saying, “At some point, you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else.” She put the viewing decision in the hands of the consumer – sit in a theater with your mask on and distanced friends or in your own living room. To show her their thanks (since for a short period it made them look like theater huggers and fit into their long range plans) Stankey and Kilar cranked up the quality for her – 4K, Ultra HD, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos. Stankey and Kilar have a lot riding on HBO Max and need to boost subscriptions … quickly. Staff cuts, organization realignment and content confusion only does so much to pare down the huge debt Randell Stephenson left behind when he bailed/retired. The exciting content would also help AT&T’s broadband and linear video businesses, even though a lot of wired/wireless upgrades came from their DirecTV and U-verse service customers. Hey, mi pocket es su pocket! They needed more fuel to fan the flames for HBO Max and not so subtly nudge the industry a little further on its transition path. Netflix had shown the industry the next phase of video entertainment that people wanted – what they want, when they want it and where they want it (on their screen). When Covid-19 swept the globe, Universal cracked the time-honored theatrical window. Disney reinforced the idea that good content is good content and people like having viewing choices--even if it’s on (shudder) smartphone screens. So, Warner/HBO suggested the time was right to plan for the post-pandemic future. The industry leaders had experimented with D2C streaming for their big-budget movies and had proven that consumers were open to the option. AT&T/Warner/HBO explained to the owners of empty theaters that only the most ardent movie goers would buy cinema tickets this year and we’ll talk about next year … next year. Given the circumstances, day/date theatrical and streaming releases made sense. After all, consumer viewing options were dramatically reduced given the devastation of the pandemic, the length of time required to vaccinate 7.8B people on the planet is mind-boggling. So perhaps it’s time to give consumers more of a choice in the what, where, when and how of their entertainment. In other words, day and date release was about the only option cinemas had with no position of strength on the horizon.