LOS ANGELES • Warner Bros has come up with a new plan to compensate film-makers during the coronavirus pandemic - treat every movie like a box-office smash.

After shocking Hollywood with its decision to release all its new movies this year on HBO Max, the studio has adjusted the terms of its deals with partners to guarantee payment regardless of box-office sales and to increase the odds of performance-based bonuses.

Warner Bros will also pay a larger group of cast and crew money based on fees it collects from HBO Max, according to people with knowledge of the studio's plans.

The agreements are a sign of the pandemic-troubled times. Most cinemas are closed because of the pandemic, motivating studios to put their films online.

But their payment contracts with partners are usually highly dependent on big-screen success - a system that many in Hollywood want to protect because it made them rich.

Warner Bros plans to release 17 movies this year, including Dune, In The Heights and sequels to The Matrix and Space Jam.

The movies will appear in cinemas and on HBO Max at the same time - though they will run exclusively on the big screen in many territories around the world. The films will play on HBO Max for 31 days, but may remain in theatres long after.

According to people familiar with the situation, when movies come out this year, anyone entitled to a bonus will receive one at half the box-office revenue that would usually be needed to trigger a payout.

And if more cinemas close down, the threshold will fall further - a stipulation called the "Covid-19 multiplier".

Those who would usually participate in profits from box-office receipts will continue to do so, as well as benefit from on-demand and online sales.

HBO Max will pay Warner Bros a fee for its 31-day window and the money from that will be shared with not just profit participants, but cast and crew. Both businesses are part of AT&T's WarnerMedia, run by streaming veteran Jason Kilar.

AT&T, which acquired the Warner operations in a US$85 billion (S$113 billion) acquisition in 2018, has a lot riding on the strategy.

In addition to helping it cope with the pandemic, the hope is to draw millions of subscribers to HBO Max, which launched last year.

The telecommunications giant is counting on the platform to become a full-fledged competitor to Netflix and Disney+.

What is not clear is whether extra cash is enough to ease tensions between the studio and well-known film-makers and financiers who immediately cried foul over Warner Bros' decision.

Tenet (2020) director Christopher Nolan slammed the idea of shunting films to HBO Max, which he called "the worst streaming service".

Many of the parties were upset because they felt Warner Bros did not give them enough of a heads-up or because they wanted their movies to appear exclusively in cinemas. But the rebuke was also a carefully orchestrated part of a negotiation. Many were worried about the potential impact on pay.

The extra payouts are not permanent. After this year, the studio plans to go back to the old contract model.

Sharing the HBO Max licence fee with crew members and writers is another temporary change. Crew members typically do not share in box-office receipts, but do get a piece of home-entertainment sales.

"Our orientation in these situations is always to be generous," Mr Kilar said in an interview last month.

BLOOMBERG