Undeterred by upset filmmakers and looming legal action from an unhappy production company, Warner Bros. is pushing forward with its 'Same Day Premieres' strategy, in which its upcoming tentpole films will come to HBO Max the same day as they hit theaters.
In an effort to show its commitment to the controversial strategy, HBO Max has dropped a new Same Day Premieres trailer, which offers our first look at several films from its upcoming lineup.
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Films making their online footage debut include the new Mortal Kombat movie from producer James Wan, the Lebron James-starring Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Taylor Sheridan's Those Who Wish Me Dead, Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho, and King Richard, which sees Will Smith star as Venus and Serena Williams' father and coach.
The trailer also offers our first glimpse at the highly anticipated HBO Max Original film The Many Saints of Newark – a prequel to The Sopranos starring Michael Gandolfini in the role his father James Gandolfini made famous.
Additionally, the trailer provides a few extra glances at films that have been teased before, including a humorous exchange between Peacemaker (John Cena) and Bloodsport (Idris Elba) from James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.
Dune or Dune not?
Footage from Denis Villeneuve's Dune is also presented front and center in the trailer, despite the director's very public criticism of the studio's release strategy – in a essay for Variety, Villeneuve declared that Warner Bros.' parent company AT&T had "hijacked one of the most respectable and important studios in film history."
Legendary Pictures, the production company behind Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong, is considering legal action against Warner Bros., alleging that it was not consulted at all by the studio before its contentious Same Day Premieres strategy was announced.
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