Theatrical Future/PVOD Thread

[OLSinFLA]

In normal times, Christmas is the busiest movie going day of the year, so it stands to reason that more than usual people are going to the movies (as far as pandemic times) today, especially with a lot of theaters playing WW84 for only $3-$5. With this year being unique in that a lot of people aren't going to be with loved ones, a lot of people aren't going to just want to just sit home on Christmas.

It ain't $3 here.. lol... it's just odd that it was JUST the WW film selling out. Nothing else. Even thought its available online...

 

[RevFreako]

It ain't $3 here.. lol... it's just odd that it was JUST the WW film selling out. Nothing else. Even thought its available online...

Almost as if day and date doesn't harm theatrical releases. Funny that

 

[Nick]

Almost as if day and date doesn't harm theatrical releases. Funny that

I think you’re insane.

Universal’s 17-day window is the way to go.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Interesting grosses all around for the holiday weekend ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Experiences Glitches For Some HBO Max Subs As DC Sequel Eyes Pandemic’s Best B.O. Opening

1. Wonder Woman: Low teens weekend (WB hasn't reported any numbers yet)
2. News of the World: 3M weekend (1.05M Friday)
3. The Croods: 2.07M weekend (550k Friday)
4. Monster Hunter: 1M weekend
5. Promising Young Woman: 660k weekend (270k Friday)
6. Fatale: 600k weekend
7. Pinocchio: 300k weekend

The Croods is still going strong for Universal, but News of the World and especially Promising Young Woman are underperforming a lot. They're Uni and Focus' main Oscar contenders this year, so not having the largest specialty markets open hinders their nationwide reaches. Deadline was projecting 4M and 2M respectively earlier this week.

 

[quinnmac000]

Interesting grosses all around for the holiday weekend ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Experiences Glitches For Some HBO Max Subs As DC Sequel Eyes Pandemic’s Best B.O. Opening

1. Wonder Woman: Low teens weekend (WB hasn't reported any numbers yet)
2. News of the World: 3M weekend (1.05M Friday)
3. The Croods: 2.07M weekend (550k Friday)
4. Monster Hunter: 1M weekend
5. Promising Young Woman: 660k weekend (270k Friday)
6. Fatale: 600k weekend
7. Pinocchio: 300k weekend

The Croods is still going strong for Universal, but News of the World and especially Promising Young Woman are underperforming a lot. They're Uni and Focus' main Oscar contenders this year, so not having the largest specialty markets open hinders their nationwide reaches. Deadline was projecting 4M and 2M respectively earlier this week.

promising young women’s premise will detract people from seeing it.

As for News of the World, Universal got their money back and then some from Netflix having international distribution.

 

[Nick]

So, let's talk app downloads. Story out of Bloomberg says that from Friday to Sunday (December 25-27), HBO Max set a record number for them in terms of downloads with 554,000 in a weekend (and a record 244,000 for a single day on Sunday). However, not to be outdone, Disney+ had 2.3M app downloads. Obviously, Disney+ is a fairly global service at this point, so they have an advantage there and those HBO Max downloads are all in the US (or someone using a VPN).

App downloads do not 100% of the time mean someone new subscribed to the service. It could be that someone who is subscribed already is just finally download or re-downloading the app to their device (let's keep in mind we are strictly talking about mobile here). This does not mean that Soul did better than WW84 or WW84 did better than Soul. It is interesting nonetheless. Obviously, people in the US were excited about WW84, but with GvK and Dune likely going to theaters and off of HBO Max, and WW84's bad reception, will that kill any momentum they could've had?

It also goes to my point that HBO Max should've been launched in more global markets. Disney+ saw way more downloads because it's available in more countries. HBO Max probably could've gotten pretty high in the millions (as far as downloads) if they were rolled out better, but they missed a golden opportunity. Getting people subscribed is worth way more than any money that this movie recouped internationally imo.

HBO Max, Disney+ See Bump in App Downloads With Film Debuts

AT&T Inc.’s HBO Max streaming platform set a single-day record for downloads of its mobile app following the release of the superhero sequel “Wonder Woman 1984,” from the company’s Warner Bros. studio.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Interesting data on what WW84 and Soul. Keep in mind this is only a survey and not official data: 'Wonder Woman 1984' Shows Promise for HBO Max, Audience Survey Finds | Hollywood Reporter

Wonder Woman:

23% of respondents were new HBO Max subscribers for WW84; of that section, 14% plan on continuing their subscriptions while 9% are likely to cancel
19% of respondents were current HBO Max subscribers who were likely to cancel if not for WW84's release
Viewership was highest with Men 35+
Over half of viewers lived in suburban areas
The film over indexed on HBO Max in metros where theaters are closed including NYC, LA, Chicago, and Philadelphia

Soul:

13% of respondents were new Disney+ subscribers for Soul; of that section, 9% plan on continuing their subscriptions while 4% are likely to cancel
20% of respondents were current Disney+ subscribers who were likely to cancel if not for Soul's release
The film over indexed with parents, primarily mothers
Children were a driving force when deciding to watch the film

I find it really interesting that both Disney+ and HBO Max had a similar percentage of current subscribers planning to leave. I know there were a lot of older audiences cancelling Disney+ last year after Mandalorian finished, so I wonder if that was the same deal here. The retention rate for new HBO Max subscribers is only 60% compared to Disney+'s 70%, so we'll see how this survey reflects on official reports.

 

[Nick]

For Disney+, Soul was definitely a play for retaining subscribers more so than gaining while people wait for WandaVision and other Marvel shows to come out.

On another note, seeing that theaters are in trouble, I finally went and purchased a 5.1 Surround Sound System that I installed the other day. If theaters are more/less going away in the way we knew them, I'm going to make sure that I'm keeping the most important part of the experience for me. I watched Wonder Woman and WW84 the other day and they sounded great. It's not an overly expensive system (not a SONOS or anything), but in my smallish room, the sound is great and you can't beat it for the price. Once 7.1 becomes more widely adapted on streaming services (or I move to a larger place), maybe I'll think about upgrading.

 

[rageofthegods]

Antenna data reports that HBOM added the most subs in its opening weekend of any SVOD release in 2020, amounting to about 1 million gross adds in total.



This seems...okay. We'll need more time to see how many more adds it can get. You gotta factor in the much stronger position in the marketplace Disney+ enjoyed compared to HBOM and how many HBO subscribers can still get Max for free, and also that WW84 was probably the strongest card in their hand. No real cause for champagne at Warners this New Year's but at least you can argue they didn't waste WW.

 

[Nick]

Antenna data reports that HBOM added the most subs in its opening weekend of any SVOD release in 2020, amounting to about 1 million gross adds in total.



This seems...okay. We'll need more time to see how many more adds it can get. Given the much stronger position in the marketplace Disney+ enjoyed compared to HBOM, and given how many HBO subscribers can still get Max for free, I'd hesitate to call this a victory, especially considering WW84 was the strongest card in their hand.

And that was only the US. Imagine if HBOMax had been rolled out internationally.

 

[Jamesh22]

And that was only the US. Imagine if HBOMax had been rolled out internationally.

I do wonder ( :rimshot if they are even planning on an international rollout.
WB seem to have carved up/sold rights to most of their content in multi years deals internationaly, unpicking those is going to be tougher than for Disney with Marvel & Fox.

Just one example - HBO has a content deal with Sky TV in the UK (owned by Comcast) and they renewed that deal at the end of 2019 for another 5 years. Doesn't feel like they have been thinking about a global launch for HBOM to me, which is incredibly dumb.

 

[Nick]

I do wonder ( :rimshot if they are even planning on an international rollout.
WB seem to have carved up/sold rights to most of their content in multi years deals internationaly, unpicking those is going to be tougher than for Disney with Marvel & Fox.

Just one example - HBO has a content deal with Sky TV in the UK (owned by Comcast) and they renewed that deal at the end of 2019 for another 5 years. Doesn't feel like they have been thinking about a global launch for HBOM to me, which is incredibly dumb.

It is dumb, but you have to remember that they are run by AT&T, who is new to the entertainment industry. They may have signed that deal not even thinking about the long-term ramifications it would have on restricting them from a global launch of their new streaming service that they were working on.

Probably over time they'll launch internationally, though. I'd say it's likely that they won't re-up any deals they currently have. It's possible they roll out a skeleton version of HBO Max internationally just to get the infrastructure in place and as they slowly get rights back to certain content, it'll look more like what it does in the US. Hell, even in the US they're having rights problems left and right currently.

Over time there will be no licensing deals from the big studios I suspect as Universal will want all their content on Peacock/Sky, Warner will want their Stuff on HBO Max, and Disney has most of their stuff (save for some remnants of a few deals hear and there and Fox stuff that is slowly coming back). Sony and Paramount may continue to license to Netflix internationally though as I don't necessarily see Paramount+ being something they roll out wide and Sony currently doesn't have a service. I think Amazon and Netflix stand to gain the most from all this as they'll be the ones who pick up content from the mid-major studios and the Indies like A24 and others.

 

[Fedic]

I do wonder if they are even planning on an international rollout.

They are. Europe and Latin America by the end of 2021:

WarnerMedia reveals HBO Max global plans, as streamer gains studio's movie slate - TBI Vision

WarnerMedia will roll out HBO Max into Europe and Latin America during the second half of next year, with the recently launched streaming service also set to become home to a swathe of new movies from the US studio in America. HBO Max global chief, Andy Forssell, said that by the end of next year …

tbivision.com

 

[Jamesh22]

They are. Europe and Latin America by the end of 2021:

WarnerMedia reveals HBO Max global plans, as streamer gains studio's movie slate - TBI Vision

WarnerMedia will roll out HBO Max into Europe and Latin America during the second half of next year, with the recently launched streaming service also set to become home to a swathe of new movies from the US studio in America. HBO Max global chief, Andy Forssell, said that by the end of next year …

tbivision.com

Thanks!

But... "Europe – specifically Central & Eastern Europe and the Nordics" So basically the fringes where they are not already tied up with deals.

It's a start though I guess!

 

[MrBlonde]

It is dumb, but you have to remember that they are run by AT&T, who is new to the entertainment industry.

I understand that, but they also were the same people too focused on cost cutting and ruined their own internal talent pool to help usher in a new service. This is purely self-inflicted.

 

[Nick]

AMC trying to find money anyway possible:

AMC Theatres Eyes Selling Up to $124.75 Million in Stock

Cinema giant AMC Theatres has registered up to 50 million additional shares for sale, which could raise up to $124.75 million, as it looks for additional liquidity amid declining cash resources due to the coronavirus pandemic.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Weekend 2 Box Office Drops -67% As HBO Max Glitches Continue

The first weekend of the year, which at its apex in 2016 grossed $219.5M off the heat of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, registered an estimated $13M for the entire weekend. That’s in a continued decimated exhibition marketplace that’s praying to reopen in 2021. Warner Bros.’ theatrical...

deadline.com

This weekend had fairly traditional New Year holds and increases... except for WW84 dropping 67%.

 

[Nick]

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Weekend 2 Box Office Drops -67% As HBO Max Glitches Continue

The first weekend of the year, which at its apex in 2016 grossed $219.5M off the heat of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, registered an estimated $13M for the entire weekend. That’s in a continued decimated exhibition marketplace that’s praying to reopen in 2021. Warner Bros.’ theatrical...

deadline.com

This weekend had fairly traditional New Year holds and increases... except for WW84 dropping 67%.

WW84 did hits $118.5M after this weekend though. Not that that's extremely impressive, but I do think it goes to show that their Day and Date strategy is successful... in a pandemic. The people who like going to the theaters are still going to go and WB is still going to make a decent amount of money for the times we're living in. This also helps them leverage their streaming service (although with GvK and Dune likely being pulled, they don't have many big day and date releases left).

All of that said though, I don't know if this strategy can possibly translate to non-pandemic times.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Variety is saying anything on the schedule before June is about to purged yet again due to slow vaccine rollouts: Hollywood Prepares to Delay Another Slew of Blockbusters

 

[Nick]

Variety is saying anything on the schedule before June is about to purged yet again due to slow vaccine rollouts: Hollywood Prepares to Delay Another Slew of Blockbusters

They can't really affor to delay much more with this being an already crowded year. I'd ager most of these will be PVOD release or debut on streaming. Black Widow will almost certainly be a Disney+ movie. I'd suspect Netflix will scoop up quite a few movies.