This is definitely a game changer.

After announcing that the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984 will release on HBO Max on Christmas day, Warner Bros. announced yesterday that its entire slate of 2021 films will release on HBO Max on the same day as theaters.

Among the 17 films set to be released on the subscription streaming service are The Suicide Squad, Matrix 4, Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Warner Bros has made it clear however that this is only in response to the pandemic. Currently, movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles, the U.S.’s two biggest film markets, are still closed.

TIn an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman, Toby Emmerich, argued that the move to HBO Max would be good for the theatrical business.

“It allows us to do a global release and a national release in what we think is going to be a checkerboarded theatrical market place for the bulk of 2021,” Emmerich told THR. “We think where theaters are open, and consumers can go, that a lot of people will choose to go to the theater, especially for big movies.”