WarnerMedia CEO Confirms Tenet Will Not Go to HBO Max

As theatrical releases become more and more delayed, the possibility of films going to streaming increases. Tenet, however, will not do so. WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey spoke with Deadline and discussed the possibility of major films hitting HBO Max.

Tenet has been a film that Warner Bros. is adamant to get into theaters, as has its director Christopher Nolan. The film has been pushed back several times to try and be among the first films released when theaters open but was removed from the release calendar this week. Highlights from Stankey’s comments are below:

On if major films will release on the service: “Is it going to happen with a movie like Tenet or something like Wonder Woman? I’d be very surprised if that would be the case. In fact, I can assure you with Tenet, that’s not going to be the case.”

On why Tenet needs a nationwide, non-staggered release: “It needs to release nationwide. So if you have a major metropolitan area — say, Los Angeles — that’s totally out of check and you have other parts of the country that are totally in control, it doesn’t necessarily give you an option to open it in half the country. It just doesn’t work very well that way.”

On Tenet needing a theatrical experience: “It’s a movie, an experience, that should be seen in theaters. It was engineered to be that way. As a result of that, it needs to show up that way. Certainly, Christopher would like it to be that way. That’s how he wants that piece of work that he’s done to be seen by moviegoers and that’s why it’s going to be something that shows up in a theater.”