Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav at CinemaCon: “We Are in No Rush to Bring Movies to Max”

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was a conquering hero in the eyes of theater owners as he traveled to Las Vegas to personally reaffirm his commitment to the big screen during CinemaCon.

“We believe in full windowing. We are in no rush to bring movies to Max. It is a great service. Movies that open in theaters perform substantially better than any of the direct-to-streaming movies,” Zaslav said in his first appearance at CinemaCon, drawing huge applause when pronouncing that his company doesn’t believe in streaming movies.

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“We have to rally right now. It’s a moment in time when people need to be entertained. What is Warner Bros. Discovery? It is a storytelling business,” he continued. “And the purest form are motion pictures in theaters. The phone goes off and the lights go out. That’s the only place it happens. It is a community experience.”

He is the first conglomerate chief to speak at CinemaCon in modern times. Generally, those duties belong to film studio chairs and marketing and distribution executives. Zaslav kicked off his tour at the show by attending a Monday afternoon cocktail party for theater owners in advance of Tuesday’s presentation and an advance screening of The Flash.

Last year, exhibitors breathed a huge sigh of relief when Zaslav dismantled the controversial policies of the previous regime. WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar had infuriated talent and theater owners when announcing that the company would send its entire 2021 slate of Warner Bros. movies to HBO Max on the same day they opened in theaters. For exhibitors, it meant the company was putting streaming ahead of theatrical at a precarious time for the box office recovery.

While Warners had already pledged to return to a traditional theatrical release while Kilar was still on the job, some remained suspect. Zaslav’s arrival a year ago soon allayed any concerns.

“We have a different view on the wisdom of releasing direct-to-streaming films and we have taken some aggressive steps to course-correct the previous strategy. We will fully embrace theatrical as we believe it creates interest and demand,” Zaslav said during an Aug. 22 earnings call, mentioning such examples as Elvis and The Batman. “As films move from theatrical to streaming and elsewhere, “their overall value is elevated, elevated, elevated,”

He hasn’t deviated from that position since.

Zaslav and Warners are incredibly keen on DC’s The Flash, and were set to share the superhero pic with CinemaCon attendees late Tuesday afternoon.

At the end of his remarks, Zaslav further wowed the crowd when bringing Oprah on stage to help talk about studio’s upcoming The Color Purple. (It is also her first time at CinemaCon.) Director Blitz Bazawule was on hand as well.

Like Zaslav, Oprah addressed the importance of seeing a film in a movie, saying it can be a healing experience.

During his time on stage, Zaslav also praised the leadership he’s installed, including Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group chairs Michael DeLuca and Pamela Abdy.

“Who is better than the two of them? Between them, they’ve done more than 100 films. I’ll call them any time of the day and night and try to stump them when I’m watching a movie on Turner Movie Classics,” Zaslav confessed. He also praised his DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran.

He’s also realistic and addressed the challenges facing theatrical.

“A lot of those main street theaters haven’t opened,” he said. “We have to rally right now. It’s a moment in time when people need to be entertained. We were down to six movies when Pam and Mike got here. We have 16 movies now and we want to do more than 20. We are all in. We believe it is great business.”

“We all have something in common,” he told theater owners. “We all love this business and as I’ve gotten to know a number of you, there’s one word that we all share, and that’s courage.”

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