Sony Pictures CEO claims WarnerMedia's HBO Max move bolstered its movie business
Sunday, December 27, 2020 at 7:33PM 
Source: Sony Pictures
Directors like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve have decried WarnerMedia's decision to release all its 2021 movies on HBO Max. But a rival studio is reaping its benefits. Sony Pictures head Tony Vinciquerra told CNBC in an interview that its studio is enjoying "a bit of a boom" from Hollywood creators looking for a company that is still devoted to movie theatres. While he didn't name talents, he said Sony's role as a theatrical distributor had "worked very well."
Unlike WarnerMedia or Disney, Sony doesn't have a streaming service to support, so it can either sell films to third-party series or offer titles for rent earlier than expected. But while it doesn't have much of a choice when it comes to where it can release its films, Vinciquerra argues for greater flexibility in how long a movie stays in theatres, depending on whether the film does well or does not.