Theatrical Future/PVOD Thread

[TheGentTrent]

Yeah, theaters are basically like restaurants: the minute people take their seat, the masks come off.

 

[rageofthegods]

Some very good news for theaters (and Paramount) this weekend!

How Paramount Resurrected Moviegoing With ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ $57M Opening; ‘Cruella’ Dazzles With $27M

'A Quiet Place Part II' is off to a fast start with $4.8 million in Thursday night previews - more than the original in 2018. 'Cruella' gets $1.4M.

deadline.com

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Some very good news for theaters (and Paramount) this weekend!

How Paramount Resurrected Moviegoing With ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ $57M Opening; ‘Cruella’ Dazzles With $27M

'A Quiet Place Part II' is off to a fast start with $4.8 million in Thursday night previews - more than the original in 2018. 'Cruella' gets $1.4M.

deadline.com

Genuinely great news. I do find Deadline's editorializing on Cruella (and their editorializing on the theater business in general) inaccurate. I think a Quiet Place Part 2's numbers meeting pre-pandemic numbers is proof that the people who want to go see movies are seeing them. The people who are streaming aren't going to go if it's only theatrical. They'll just wait till they can stream it, especially for a movie with a somewhat mixed response.

 

[Nick]

Genuinely great news. I do find Deadline's editorializing on Cruella (and their editorializing on the theater business in general) inaccurate. I think a Quiet Place Part 2's numbers meeting pre-pandemic numbers is proof that the people who want to go see movies are seeing them. The people who are streaming aren't going to go if it's only theatrical. They'll just wait till they can stream it, especially for a movie with a somewhat mixed response.

Yeah, tbh, I don't think Cruella being on Disney+ played a big part in it's performance too much at all. It didn't even trend highly on Disney+, meaning it wasn't a big purchase overall. The ability to purchase Black Widow on Premier Access will have a much larger overall effect.

 

[Nick]

More news with AMC today. They're taking advantage of their inflated stock value and they raised $230M today in a stock sale.

AMC Soars as Company Sells $230 Million in Stock to Hedge Fund

Mudrick Capital quickly unloaded at a profit 8.5 million shares it purchased under the deal with the movie-theater chain.

www.wsj.com

They also came out and said they "plan to go on offense" and acquire, specifically the now closed arclight and pacific theaters chains in California.

AMC Theatres Looking To Buy Closed ArcLight And Pacific Theatres Venues - SlashFilm

AMC is in talks to buy some of the recently closed ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres.

www.slashfilm.com

 

[Nick]

The theatrical shuffle may be returning. While this isn't a big movie that most of us here would ever care about, they are delaying it because they're worried about families not wanting to go to theaters. I think the bigger thing to worry about from this is this: Will other big Blockbuster films that have already been delayed multiple times be delayed AGAIN?

 

[AlexanderMBush]

The theatrical shuffle may be returning. While this isn't a big movie that most of us here would ever care about, they are delaying it because they're worried about families not wanting to go to theaters. I think the bigger thing to worry about from this is this: Will other big Blockbuster films that have already been delayed multiple times be delayed AGAIN?

I think it's not going to be as impactful of a delay as before, but I can see certain films get shuffled to early next year. By november, kids should be able to be innoculated; so it should allow for films from mid/late november to December to not have issues.

September and October are the real issues.

 

[Nick]

I think it's not going to be as impactful of a delay as before, but I can see certain films get shuffled to early next year. By november, kids should be able to be innoculated; so it should allow for films from mid/late november to December to not have issues.

September and October are the real issues.

I think Disney's getting really unlucky with both Shang-Chi (and possibly The Eternals) at the very least coming out during a time when people will be more hesitant to go to the theater. Has me wondering if we could see Premier Access added late to those movies as an option.

 

[quinnmac000]

I think Disney's getting really unlucky with both Shang-Chi (and possibly The Eternals) at the very least coming out during a time when people will be more hesitant to go to the theater. Has me wondering if we could see Premier Access added late to those movies as an option.

Feige already is angry about Black Widow going to Premiere Access...Marvel films were made for cinema...marvel shows are made just for Disney+. This is how you get him to walk away.

 

[RevFreako]

Feige already is angry about Black Widow going to Premiere Access...Marvel films were made for cinema...marvel shows are made just for Disney+. This is how you get him to walk away.

At the end of the day, Feige is an employee of Disney, not the other way around. He can be as mad as he likes.

 

[Nick]

Feige already is angry about Black Widow going to Premiere Access...Marvel films were made for cinema...marvel shows are made just for Disney+. This is how you get him to walk away.

Tell that to Chapek, who doesn't seem to care. Jungle Cruise made 33% of it's opening weekend money from PA and BW made roughly the same percentage of it's overall opening weekend box office from PA and they keep 100% of that. They certainly risk pissing Feige off, but I actually don't think they care. They see PA as the future.

I see Feige leaving Disney for Discovery to head up the DCEU within the next year or two. Chapek doesn't seem to care about the value Feige brings and that Marvel would become unstabilized as Feige leaving means he would likely take a lot of staff over to DC. You think Louis D'Esposito would stay? Maybe. Maybe not. They're playing a dangerous game, but I think they feel like they have a Marvel "formula" down and that anyone can do it which couldn't be farther from the truth. Just look at how much of a roller coaster Star Wars has been under Kathleen Kennedy. That's what Marvel would turn into.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I'd have to think Iger is hovering Chapek's current head right now, and is waiting to look at shareholders. The last case scenario I think they'd want, is if Feige walks.

 

[Nick]

All I know is that none of this funny business happened under Iger. He may have done some things that we all disagreed with, but big papa Iger ran a steady ship and always made sure to keep people happy.

 

[belloq87]

CLIFFORD's move is an odd one, as most experts I've seen tend to think this current wave will be subsiding by its original release date.

I think -- barring theaters actually shutting down again in North America, which I don't see any chance of happening -- most movies are going to just have to go through with release, and studios need to adjust their expectations for box office grosses given the situation.

Pushing movies again in hopes of "better conditions," or something, is not tenable.

 

[Nick]

LUCA will be the first Hollywood film to play in China since June when it plays on August 20th. A (potentially) good sign that more movies will play there again soon. China is starting to play fewer and fewer movies that aren’t Chinese films since the pandemic started.

‘Luca’ Gets China Release Date In August; Disney/Pixar Movie Is Market’s First Hollywood Title Slated Since June

Disney/Pixar’s sea monster story Luca has been granted an August 20 release date in China, signaling that the end of the giant market’s latest unofficial blackout period may be afoot. While Luca will take a prime slot amid a series of local holdovers and is the first Hollywood studio title to...

deadline.com

 

[quinnmac000]

LUCA will be the first Hollywood film to play in China since June when it plays on August 20th. A (potentially) good sign that more movies will play there again soon. China is starting to play fewer and fewer movies that aren’t Chinese films since the pandemic started.

‘Luca’ Gets China Release Date In August; Disney/Pixar Movie Is Market’s First Hollywood Title Slated Since June

Disney/Pixar’s sea monster story Luca has been granted an August 20 release date in China, signaling that the end of the giant market’s latest unofficial blackout period may be afoot. While Luca will take a prime slot amid a series of local holdovers and is the first Hollywood studio title to...

deadline.com

July Until End of August has always been the Hollywood blackout period for the summer season and when they promote patriotic movies. But more so why would Chinese theatres show western films when Western films haven't been doing well and not topping the market in China since the pandemic started compared to Chinese films.

 

[Nick]

July Until End of August has always been the Hollywood blackout period for the summer season and when they promote patriotic movies. But more so why would Chinese theatres show western films when Western films haven't been doing well and not topping the market in China since the pandemic started compared to Chinese films.

What movies exactly ARE topping the market? Sure Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown are the two highest grossing films of the year, but they appear to be relative flukes as they topped early in the year and there’s yet to be another big movie open in China aside from F9.

Right now, no movies are doing overly great. An opening of Black Widow in China though could potentially push the film over $500M or so although pirating is going to hurt it there.

 

[quinnmac000]

What movies exactly ARE topping the market? Sure Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown are the two highest grossing films of the year, but they appear to be relative flukes as they topped early in the year and there’s yet to be another big movie open in China aside from F9.

Right now, no movies are doing overly great. An opening of Black Widow in China though could potentially push the film over $500M or so although pirating is going to hurt it there.

Godzilla VS Kong was released and co-produced by a Chinese owned company....Cruella was released and did mediocre. Raya was released when COVID was super low in China and occupancy was not slashed yet in China.

We can scream oh its because COVID, but maybe China just isn't in to us anymore.

Chinese Box Office For 2021

www.boxofficemojo.com

 

[Nick]

Godzilla VS Kong was released and co-produced by a Chinese owned company....Cruella was released and did mediocre. Raya was released when COVID was super low in China and occupancy was not slashed yet in China.

We can scream oh its because COVID, but maybe China just isn't in to us anymore.

Chinese Box Office For 2021

www.boxofficemojo.com

I agree that there seems to be a shift among Chinese audiences away from Hollywood films, although that’s (partially) because the government there is training the audiences to like only that type of content by extremely limiting the amount of foreign movies to even play in the country.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

In the terms of this weekend, Free Guy takes the #1 spot domestically for 25 million; exceeding the expectations originally placed onto the film itself.



So much so that like Cruella, Disney is seemingly looking to get the green light going for Free Guy 2.