Only a few months remain until DC’s The Flash hits theaters and Warner Bros, has already announced the film’s streaming release date on HBO Max.
The Direct reported that Chairman & CEO of HBO & HBO Max Content Casey Bloys announced The Flash‘s streaming release date during the Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max event. According to the Bloys, the DC film will be dashing its way to HBO Max around the fall of 2023, soon after its theatrical release.
“The Flash will land on the service the fall after its exclusive run in theaters this June.”
It comes as no surprise that the window between theatrical and streaming is small when it comes to Warner Bros. blockbuster films. The first example was Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, which had a two-month theatrical window before it made its way onto streaming. The same can also be said for Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The sequel had an even shorter window of only 32 days in theaters before it could be purchased on Amazon Prime on April 18. Its streaming debut is still currently unknown.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has commented on the short gap between the film’s theatrical and streaming release, claiming that this release strategy is beneficial to the film’s “interest.” He also stated that these short-release windows “elevate” the film and used the results from Elvis as an example of this model working.
“For example, we will fully embrace the attributes as we believe it creates interest and demand provides a great marketing tailwind, and generates word-of-mouth buzz as films transition to streaming and beyond. When you’re in theaters, the value of the content and the overall viewing experience is elevated.
“Then when the same content moves to PVOD, and then streaming it is elevated again. As films moved from one window to the next, their overall value is elevated, elevated, elevated. We saw this clearly demonstrated with the Batman and Elvis.”
The Flash is an upcoming DC film that will help reboot the DCU timeline. In addition to Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as Batman after over 30 years since his last appearance in the Batsuit. Also returning is Michael Shannon, reprising his role as General Zod from Man of Steel. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on June 16, 2023, and information on its streaming release date will be announced at a later date.