TORONTO – With Warner Brothers announcing this week that their slate of big 2021 releases; including Dune, Matrix, Suicide Squad 2, and Godzilla Vs Kong will be streaming on HBO Max in the US immediately on release, executives at Crave lept into action to clarify that users who pay for HBO+Movies may get to see these movies “eventually.”
This comes as a bit of a surprise to the consumers who pay the Canadian media giant $19.98 a month for Crave+HBO+Movies. Like local Crave subscriber Andrew Phillips who said “So these are movies, on HBO, it’s a HBO movie. I’m paying for ‘Crave+HBO+Movies’ which is two of the words so I guess I thought I’d be set. If that doesn’t get it what does?”
“I think I’m paying 2 different streaming services for STARZ. Is that anything? What’s STARZ?” he added.
A Crave spokesperson said that “We understand the confusion. So we’ll make it simple. Yes. No. Yes Crave doesn’t have HBO Max, we have HBO, or HBO plus movies, which includes some Max content, but not Max movies. It’s Crave + HBO + Movies, it’s just Max for some TV. So it’s Crave + HBO + Movies – Max Movies + Max TV ≠ Warner Brothers movies eventually. Honestly I don’t know how to make it any simpler than that.”
The Bell Media executive did ask all reporters to remind Canadians they do have Big Bang Theory, in case you’d forgotten.
Therefore it looks like Canadians will have to visit their local theatres in 2021 if they want to see Warner Brothers movies when they release. This comes as a relief to National theatre chain Cineplex. A Cineplex spokesperson said “We’re so excited to welcome back the return of Cinema! I know we said this for Tenet too but this time it’s for real. Cinema is totally back! We have an expression in this business, Tenet me once shame on the audience, Tenet me twice shame on the theatres. It’s a new expression but we think it’s appropriate and that there’s no way this is Tenet again. Right!?”
So get ready to put on your mask and see these movies in theatres. Provided of course that movie theatres are allowed to open where you live. Fortunately federal, provincial and municipal Covid restriction logistics are so much easier to understand than our streaming services.
