Just a few days ago, we reported on the words of the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, who confirmed during an earnings call that their hit movie Barbie would be coming to HBO Max this fall, without providing any further details. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that we also now have a publicly announced date for its digital rental and purchase , and it will be much sooner than we all expected.
Barbie, record after record
Even Warner Bros. executives didn't see such a massive success coming. Barbie continues to break box office records and is not only second in earnings for 2023; it's on track to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time , surpassing some Marvel movies.
And Barbie didn't have it easy. On the same day as its premiere , Oppenheimer was also walking the red carpet , creating one of the most epic head-to-head battles in recent film history. Even so, Greta Gerwig 's film has emerged victorious from the competition and continues to draw audiences to theaters.
Faced with such a phenomenon, we were not surprised at all when David Zaslav, CEO of Warner, said in his latest round of results that the film would arrive on HBO in the fall, without further details in this regard, thus extending its exploitation on the big screen as much as possible.
But it seems we won't have to wait that long after all. At least not to watch it on our home TVs. We now know when it will be available on demand.
Premiere in September for purchase and rent
It won't even wait another month. Warner will respect the 45-day window between its theatrical release and its arrival on store shelves and will launch Barbie for rent and purchase on September 5th , to the delight of both those who have already seen it and want to see it again and those who have resisted and are waiting to watch it comfortably from their sofa at home.
Given the generous window of opportunity HBO Max had set just days before (autumn runs from September 23 to December 22), it's surprising the company has made this decision, especially considering the enormous amount of money it's making in theaters. But it seems the production company is so confident in its product that it's not afraid to offer it on demand and continue exploiting the story of the Mattel doll.
With this availability, pirated copies and illegal downloads are inevitable , although we assume Warner is also aware of this… We'll see if Barbie doesn't break another record soon…