During the week, Warner Bros. announced an exclusive partnership with Alamo Drafthouse to host advanced screenings for the season finale of streaming series THE PITT. Coming off its first season on HBO Max for which the medical drama earned an Emmy as best drama series, the sophomore season of THE PITT has drawn equal praise. The deal between Warner Bros. and Alamo is another interesting example of popular streaming series creating an event out of its season finale by bring it to theatres for an exclusive run on the big screen.
Theatrical screenings for THE PITT’s season finale will be held at ten Alamo Drafthouse locations on Monday, April 13th, three days before it becomes available on HBO MAX as of Thursday, April 16th. This structure is a bit different from the theatrical run of Netflix’s science fiction horror series STRANGER THINGS, which brought its season finale to theatres on the same day when it became available to watch on Netflix. The STRANGER THINGS series finale was a massive hit for the 600 theatres that screened it on December 31st, despite the fact that it was also available to watch online. Those theatres brought in an estimated $20-25 million on that single day. If THE PITT is similarly successful on a per-theatre basis, it could begin to establish a model for streamers to partner with theatres to gain attention for their marquee series.
