It was already difficult to imagine the domestic exhibition business ever recovering from the events of 2020, but WB just made things infinitely worse with the announcement that studio will send their entire 2021 slate day-and-date to HBO MAX.
We’ve already seen a number of titles going the streaming route, but this is something else entirely.
Will the other studios follow WB’s lead? Is this the end of domestic moviegoing? If not, what is the path to recovery for the theater chains?
Gone Elsewhere 
I think the death of cinemagoing is somewhat overstated. In the time of COVID it’s just impossible for the blockbuster films that have been the driving force of the industry for decades to be viable.
But once the pandemic is behind us I think there will be a great desire to go out and experience entertainment out of the house (not just cinema) after being cooped inside for eons.
The issue is that the studios are already all-in on streaming (WB, Disney and Universal have all stated it’s their primary focus going forward). Disney now refers to theatrical as “our legacy distribution business”. None of them are showing solidarity with the exhibitors, instead they’re all using COVID to achieve what they’ve been trying to accomplish for a couple of decades: the elimination of the theatrical window.
Meanwhile: AMC and Regal will be bankrupt by 1st quarter. Cinemark can last until Spring and then they’ll follow. No bailout is coming in the US. Therefore we’re going to likely see a dramatic reduction in domestic screen counts by mid-late next year. At that point theaters become even less important for the studios.
As for moviegoers: You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. How can you deliver 200m+ budgeted movies to folks day-and-date for $15.00 a month or a reasonably small rental fee and then expect them to pay $15.00 a ticket once the pandemic is over? I don’t know what brings them back.