A Good Movie Is a Good Movie No Matter Where It’s Seen

Content Insider #866 – Movie Time

By Andy Marken  andy@markencom.com

“The life we enjoy is very much worth the sacrifice.” – Rudolf Hoss, “Zone of Interest,” A24, 2023

Shortly after the end of CinemaCon, we were chatting with a friend down in SoCal about the roll-out of A24’s action film Civil War because the build-up hype made it a project we both were determined to see.

The big question was how, when do we see it?

At the time of our discussion, it was going to hit the theaters right after the NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) week-long movies for movie houses event, but the thought-piece project was also scheduled to be available later for people to buy for their permanent home library (PVOD). Then, Warner was going to encourage folks to sign up for their Max streaming service to build their subscription base.

Then, at some time in the distant future, it will probably be made available on Prime then Pluto and/or Tubi.

Yeah, we both decided we’d wait to see it on our own screens with our own home popcorn.

And that just about summed up the shape of the movie-going industry, despite the optimism that Michael O’Leary, the new head of NATO, the studio executives and theater owners are facing.

Even O’Leary had a tough time believing the industry was prepared for a revival when he said, “I believe the future of the theatrical industry is limited,” and then quickly corrected himself and said “limitless.”

Yes, it’s been tough for the movie house industry in recent years.

First, we had the pandemic shutdown that put padlocks on theaters around the globe and then just as they were struggling to reopen and entice people to come back and put their seats in seats, the creation industry had the double six-month SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes.

Studios had to make a hard call – shift the most expensive projects to 2025 or push out as many projects as possible and beef up the potential for their streaming services to gain subscription numbers/profits.

Since they are all hustling to improve their bottom line, they did both without a huge bright outlook for theater owners who need a steady flow of great video content … and ticket buyers.

Don’t get us wrong, the theater industry isn’t going to head in the same direction Peak TV seems to be moving toward, but it is going to have to reassess and realign its future.

AMC’s CEO Adam Aron sorta set the tone late last year when he tweeted that AMC didn’t fall into bankruptcy, that the company is still here and, in his words, “is blazing new trails.”

In addition to investing in a gold/silver mine, it’s offering its AMC-branded popcorn in grocery stores, and even selling popcorn holder collectables.

Collectors’ Item – AMC has tried almost everything to attract folks to put seats into seats, including collector popcorn specialties.  The Dunes Part 2 limited edition package even attracted the Utah legislature that probably never saw the movie.   

Of course, the Dunes Part 2 popcorn bucket may have gone a little too far because the Utah state legislature banned it because … “it might give young men impure thoughts.”  

Maybe; but you kinda wonder what they thought when they first saw it, but the added drama probably did help sell added tickets and expensive buckets of popcorn.

But more importantly and professionally, they also signed direct deals with Taylor Swift and Beyonce to show their concert films in their theaters.

Now that and other modest events AMC is probably also exploring shows how thinking outside the box can rejuvenate the industry and was well worth Aron’s salary bump to $25M plus!

Depending, of course, on the ups/downs of Wall Street.

Changing Habits – It takes planning and money to go out to the movies but on a whim, you can sit at home and watch what you want, when you want it.  Tough choice.  

The theater industry has been rearranging the lifeboats since 2002 when it had its true peak ticket sales.

Since then, people have been steadily turning to their home/personal screens as the cost and hassle of going out for a special evening became … special.

Ups, Downs – Theater ticket sales may be down but the box office for theater owners remains “healthy.” Volume will take time to return with more, easier film viewing options.   

With fewer seats in seats, theater chains made up the difference by raising ticket prices which helped their grosses but didn’t do much to entice more folks to visit their houses.

Big Budget – Going to the movies on an impulse is becoming more difficult with the costs continuing to rise–especially since the cost of one ticket can give you a month’s of streaming enjoyment.   

Since that didn’t help much, they figured the next best thing was to “improve” the cost of the concessions which enabled them to brag about steady box office increases rather than a growing number of folks in the seats.

That helped them but didn’t do a thing for the studios that had to foot all the marketing costs of the films that were gracing the huge screens but still only gave them a share of the actual ticket sales.

When tech giants like Netflix and Prime showed folks they could enjoy good to great films/shows without leaving their living/family rooms and that they could pay for a whole month of home entertainment for about a quarter of their burdensome cable bill, they caught the attention of consumers.

Delicious, Filling – A big tub of fresh, greasy popcorn at home may cost a dollar so at the movie theater, you need to savor every expensive bite.   

But then Wall Street jumped into the picture and said after showing their movies/shows in the theater and on their networks, renting content to the techie streamers rather than going direct to the consumer themselves would be a lot more profitable. 

After all, studios were great at producing content for consumers and Wall Street was great at seeing profit for themselves.

Still, people are turning out for the major blockbuster films and the middle-of-the-road projects attract a large enough audience to produce a modest profit as well as provide solid word-of-mouth marketing to entice people to sign up for their streaming services.

Limited Choices – The pandemic and dual strikes limited the number of movies that are available to theaters to attract seats into seats and it will take a couple of years to fill the pipeline as they consider “alternative” options.  

Okay, so most of the studio bosses weren’t at CinemaCon like they were in past years, but the Hollywood crowd that was there showed the theater owners that there was light at the end of the tunnel for them … next year.

That was important because CinemaCon is no longer just an event for the theater crowds in the Americas (if it ever was).

Even though the event really focuses on the Hollywood offering, its success really depends on how well projects do when they’re shown on the 200,000 +/- cinema screens around the world.

Huge Audiences – If you only read the Hollywood press, you would swear people are going in mobs to get in and watch the movies that premiere first in theaters.  Attendance is good but…  

The Hollywood media in the Americas goes bonkers – like buckets overboard – when they track film openers in the country’s theaters.

Sure, local results are important for a project in any country  – just remember the US is the second largest film market well behind China and the ROW accounts for 73 percent of the ticket buying public. They’re all just as important (if not more so) as to whether a project covers its costs or racks up wild returns for studios, producers, directors, actors and yes, shareholders.  

International Appeal – A film may produce decent ticket sales domestically but the real profits are measured by how it performs internationally.   

It wasn’t that long ago that China basically shut its doors to Hollywood content and the industry suffered … significantly.

Perhaps no theater organization felt the pain more than Imax that has more than 1700 screens in more than 80 countries with a lot of them located in the middle kingdom.

Local language films have finally been getting a stronger reception in China, India, France and Japan as well as Malaysia and Thailand.

While industry “experts” struggle to define theatrical projects, streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Apple were able to shift their content acquisition to films/shows created outside the Americas during the dual shutdowns much to the delight of just about everyone.

Financial Success – Studios and the people invested in the success of films pay close attention to the ticket sales and box office internationally because the global success spells the difference between bad, good and great paydays for their efforts.   

The three were able to increase their acquisition of international projects–not only to the delight of local governments, studios and audiences, but also to audiences in the Americas.

A key ingredient was the speed and reasonable cost of using AI translation/postproduction tools by folks such as 2G Digital.

“Localization has leveled the playing field for project creators/producers around the world,” Allan McLennan, 2G Digital Post’s President, emphasized.  “Suddenly, people in the Americas are able to experience and enjoy some of the best creative work  by filmmakers in China, South Korea, Africa, Brazil and centers in other countries.

“Once only in reach of tentpole productions and major US studios, AI with human quality control localization is now beginning to enable streamers to share projects created in the Americas and in English. But perhaps even more important, they can acquire very good films/shows produced in the native language and translate them so they can be enjoyed by subscribers in their native tongue,” he continued.

“While the streamers may decide to provide certain films with a theatrical window, it’s now not as imperative,” he emphasized.   “At that point, it’s a business decision as to whether they want to give people a special reason to go to the theater, or if the film goes exclusively to their subscribers at home or even better yet, both.”

Breaking Borders – With the availability of fast and economic AI-enabled localization services, even modest budget films can be enjoyed by people around the globe–no matter where it has been produced.   

The content creation, production and distribution industry has changed significantly over the past 10 years, giving people a multitude of options for enjoying a greater depth and breadth of content and on the screen(s) they most enjoy.

The decision for the studio – and the viewer – is binary and everyone, especially theater owners, have to understand they aren’t the only theatrical screening in town.

Simply repeating Rudolf Hoss’ comment in Zone of Interest, isn’t an option (not that it ever should have been), “I wasn’t really paying attention… I was too busy thinking how I would gas everyone in the room.”

A large number of theatergoers have lost interest in planning, scheduling and paying (time/money) for an evening at the movie house and have found a better entertainment option.

Perhaps it’s time for cinema owners to think of better ways to entice folks back into their seats besides a larger, more expensive bucket of popcorn.

While we’re at it, it might be time for the awards folks to get serious about the rules – and measurements – as to what makes a great movie beside superheroes, humongous budgets and gala parties.

Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. Internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise, especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. Extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants