Though battered, the domestic movie theater industry showed surprising confidence at annual industry gathering CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Aug 23-26.
Pundits can scoff, but I spent three days at the cinema trade show with nearly 2,000 executives who rolled up their sleeves to do business. Reflecting the devastation of the Covid pandemic, that headcount is down from 3,000-3,500 people normally. But the mood was hopefully upbeat. For example, I encountered a half dozen small theater operators reopening, about to reopen and, in some cases, acquiring competitors who are exiting.
“The industry-ites on hand seemed happy to get down to business watching distributor movie slate presentations; sizing up the CinemaCon trade show of service and equipment venders; and behind-the-scenes private meeting face-to-face,” says a Variety story. “The second largest circuit, Regal Cinemas, is said to have brought about 500 executives” using the event for a separate, private gathering of theaters managers at its 549 theater locations in 42 U.S. states and U.S. possessions.
Yes, the stubborn/unpredictable pandemic remains a worry and contracting windows between theaters with online video streaming are also concerns. Now a 45-day window is common while in 2019 this gap between cinema premiere stretched 90 days to video on demand. And now some movies go premium-VOD, which means a two-day rental for $30 simultaneous with cinema premiere; a $30 buy gets a smaller audience than a regular VOD run on a Netflix or Disney+.
“I applaud (Hollywood) artists who refuse to accept the false narrative that movie theaters are a thing of the past and that the future will be one in which every movie is consumed at home,” said cinema-industry advocate John Fithian in his industry address. “These leading creatives know better, and they are on the right side of history.” Those comments play off Hollywood talent’s strong support for putting movies in theaters; the cinema industry is referred to as “exhibition.” Fithian is chief of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), which stages CinemaCon.
And Hollywood film distributors — led by the major studios — continue supply their films to cinemas, as was evident by their “product presentations” at CinemaCon. It’s a good economic model to collect big money from their cut of ticket sales (usually about $6 per admission) for only a one-time view by one person. On a per-consumer basis, that’s far superior to streaming where the per capita cash pay is lower and the TV streaming audience size actually is unknown.
At Cinema-Con, four of the five Hollywood majors mounted pricey presentations of their film slates. The fifth major, Walt Disney Pictures, screened live-action comic book adaptation film “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings” in its entirety; it’s a Sept. 3 cinema release for the U. S.
On top of showing clips in slate presentations, Paramount Pictures screened the entire family animated “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and Sony Pictures did the same with Jason Reitman’s live-action comedy “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” They are future cinema releases and were well received; the distributors clearly felt these movies are entertaining, otherwise they wouldn’t risk an advance screening at CinemaCon. Elsewhere, the first 13 minutes of “Top Gun: Maverick” highlighted the Paramount Pictures presentation.
Distributor-slate presentations at CinemaCon usually include some star talent in-person, but this year talent mostly appeared via recorded messages. The stars delivering personalized messages included Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg.
Chunks of cinema-movie news bubbled up everywhere. Warner Bros. Pictures revealed the full title “The Matrix: Resurrections” for its fourth theatrical installment of the quirky sci-fi thriller. Lionsgate moved the premiere of pro-football Cinderella story “American Underdog” to Christmas Day Dec. 25, from a congested Dec. 10 date previously. Sony Pictures premiered its trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” at CinemaCon.
Las Vegas seemed to be an apt metaphor for cinemas — battered but teeming activity. “The gambling mecca is packed with large summer vacationing crowds in casinos and on its legendary Strip, seemingly unconcerned that the city is a designated COVID-19 hot-spot right now,” said the Variety story. “State government mandated masks be worn indoors a month ago to battle the virus surge, which made for a face-coverings-mandatory CinemaCon.”
Universal’s Human Touch for Cinemas
Universal Pictures produced a heart-warming video product reel that paid tribute to theater workers in an endearing and touching way. The video presented seven stars of upcoming Universal movies reminiscing on camera about their personal favorite theaters. And then the video would cut to an interview with a worker at that theater.
Jake Gyllenhaal, who stars in Universal heist thriller “Ambulance,” recalled in the presentation reel watching films at the AMC Village Theaters in Manhattan. Quick cut to a solo shot of Katherine Lawrence, who is an 86-year-old greeter working at this theater for 31 years. A senior citizen, Lawrence tells the camera she has “no plans to retire.” “Ambulance” is scheduled for cinemas Feb. 18.
Starring in Universal’s next-year release “Halloween Kills,” Jamie Lee Curtis says that that Magic Lantern Cinemas in Ketchum, Idaho, is a favorite theater. Quick cut to theater owner Rick Kessler who admits to the camera that he became too scared to sit through horror films after seeing Curtis in seminal horror flick “Halloween” back in 1978. Then Kessler adds that today he likes to observe frightened audiences watching scare flicks in his theater, though making sure to avert his eyes from the screen.
The stars getting personal about their own movie-going is a nice touch, and then the humanizing bonus talk from a worker at the star’s favorite cinema is doubly heartwarming. The Universal reel was moving on a personal level while also showcasing its upcoming movies.
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