What Warner Bros. Shifting 'Ready Player One' Means For Investors

"Ready Player One," Warner Bros. (operated by Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX))'s highly anticipated 2017 release from director Steven Spielberg will have to wait a little longer at the starting block.

The drama about a virtual world where humans prefer to live in over reality was slated to be the studio's big 2017 holiday release…until Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS)'s "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," over-indexed in that same window.

With the massive success of "Force," Disney wisely decided to shift "Episode 8" from the summer to the fall to try to ensure a repeat performance. As a result, the film was going to go toe-to-toe with "Ready Player One," and at one time, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ: FOX)'s "Avatar" sequel.

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Investors were watching this carefully, as they knew one studio was going to have to blink, and it certainly wasn't going to be the Mouse. Warner Bros.'s shift though is actually strategic for a few reasons outside of just avoiding "Star Wars."

How The Shift May Benefit Warner Bros.

While the main reason for the move is to avoid a battle with the Jedi, in making the shift, the studio just shored up its 2018 roster; shareholders need to take notice. The new date, March 30, 2018, coincides with the Easter holiday, and as of now, enters a market with little competition.

In addition, that date falls right after the end of the Winter Olympics and right before the start of the World Cup, giving consumers a big film event to break up the time between the two rating giants.

More importantly, the date also allows Warner Bros. to give "Ready Player One" a IMAX run. The Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB)-owned Paramount, used this strategy to high results in 2015 when it moved "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" from the fall to the summer, coincidentally also to avoid "Star Wars."

The studio also took the opportunity to announce it had shifted one of its 2018 DC Comics' branded films from March 23, 2018, to March 16, 2018, in order to position it before "Ready Player One" and also allow it an IMAX run.

Investors will note that this window is shaping up to be a busy one for Time Warner, as aside from a new WB "event" film opening March 2, studio sibling New Line has put a stake in the ground for April 20, 2018.

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