This Barbie will be ready to stream at home this fall
NEW YORK (WISH) — If you’re one of the lone holdouts among your friends on seeing “Barbie” in theaters, like the author of this article, you can begin a countdown to a different viewing opportunity.
The studio has hinted at a fall release date for Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform, Max.
The statement came during the company’s Q2 earnings call with investors Thursday. A recording of the call is available on the conglomerate’s website.
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav spent much of the time touting a cross-marketed attack plan used to develop what he called the ‘Summer of Barbie.’
The movie has become the biggest studio hit of the summer and is expected to soon pass the $1 billion mark at the box office. The film stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and was marketed as a light-hearted comedy.
Warner Bros. Discovery used the six months leading up to the movie’s release in theaters to cross-promote on its various platforms including a four-part series on HGTV, a “Barbie” themed summer baking feature on Food Network, and a sneak peek of the film during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on its Turner Sports.
“We have real ambition for the future of our motion picture business in the wake of the creative, tour de force, global phenomenon that is Barbie,” Zaslav said. “Barbie is really important for us because we think one of the unlocks of value is running this as one company.”
The earnings call came 16 months following the merger of two legacy companies that as one continue to reimagine business of the future.
The conversation about streaming took place as the CEO answered a question related to how the success of ‘Barbie’ will reshape the studio’s film strategy going forward.
“We really believe in the motion picture window. Let this movie go to the motion picture window — play it up, build up that brand. Then have it go into PVOD (premium video on demand), take it through these windows of economics that have worked forever and we think work extremely well, and then put it on Max. When it goes on Max, we think it will have a very good impact and that will be in the fall,” he said.
The fall release date has not been announced yet.