AT&T's WarnerMedia Just Threw Theater Chains Like AMC and Cinemark Under the Bus
Just when it started to look like movie theaters might push their way past all of their problems prompted by the pandemic, POW! They're sucker-punched by outfits that were supposed to be their partners. During AT&T's (NYSE: T) Q2 earnings call held Thursday morning, the company announced many of its films released in 2022 would bypass theaters altogether and head straight to its streaming platform HBO Max.
Yes, this is a bit of a deviation from the telecom giant's tentative plan from just a few months ago.
It'll hurt the movie projection business, to be sure. Not so much because theater chains like AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) and Cinemark (NYSE: CNK) have to screen every Warner Bros. movie, but because the move could embolden other studios to do the same. In fact, many of them were already leaning in this direction.
Source Fool.com
