Not this once more. After the 2 years of havoc that COVID inflicted on their enterprise, movie show house owners thought they had been previous the times of clean marquees. Studios, miraculously, have been releasing movies at an everyday fee. And higher but, persons are displaying as much as see them. Not to say “Barbenheimer” — the fantastic, explosive, ecstatically meme-able phenomenon of “Barbenheimer”!
But then — what’s the reverse of a deus ex machina? — got here a pair of labor strikes that introduced Hollywood to a standstill and now threaten to upend the discharge calendar within the again half of 2023. For cinema operators, it’s bringing again a dreaded sense of pandemic-era PTSD, reviving recollections of the lengthy gaps in between new films that saved folks at dwelling (and away from concession stands).
“We are having fun with this occasion and don’t know what comes subsequent,” says Joe Masher, chief working officer of Bow Tie Cinemas, referring to the sustained hype of “Barbenheimer.” “If the strike drags on, we’re significantly involved. We simply bought by the pandemic.”
So far, Sony has made the boldest modifications, shifting the sports activities drama “Gran Turismo” again two weeks to Aug. 25, pushing its sequel “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” from Christmas to spring 2024, and taking “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” as soon as set for March, off the calendar. Elsewhere, the Yorgos Lanthimos drama “Poor Things,” from Disney and Searchlight, has relocated from September to early December, and Amazon’s sports activities romance “Challengers,” with Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, bought booted into subsequent yr.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is contemplating pushing Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part Two” from November to 2024, and assessing new dates for vacation releases, the musical adaptation “The Color Purple” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”
But these conversations are going down at each studio as executives ponder what to do now that stars can’t promote splashy, costly tentpoles like Martin Scorsese’s crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Oct. 6), superhero sequel “The Marvels” (Nov. 10) and “Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (Nov. 17). The work stoppage additionally signifies that a number of main titles set for 2024 and past might miss their launch dates.
Chris Randleman, chief income officer of the Texas-based Flix Brewhouse chain, doesn’t mince phrases as he lays out the potential affect for exhibitors.
“The studios can be making a grave mistake transferring main components of their slate out of 2023, and it will be a extreme blow to theaters proper as we’re getting again on our toes,” he says. “The business can’t take one other spherical of huge date shifts. It will damage everybody.”
The downside is that large theater chains like AMC and Regal are carrying quite a lot of debt on their books, whereas unbiased operators haven’t loved the identical ticket gross sales they did earlier than the pandemic. Overall, the home field workplace is down practically 20% from pre-COVID ranges. It’s left exhibitors susceptible to any downturn within the film enterprise. If they go months with out compelling movies to display, they may go bankrupt or shut. In that case, Warner Bros. can have fewer screens to showcase the subsequent “Dune” when the studio is able to roll out the sci-fi epic.
It’s a precarious scenario with out a simple answer. Open a $200 million-budgeted movie that hasn’t benefited from a severe promotional marketing campaign with, say, Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet enchanting followers on purple carpets or transfixing the lots on late-night speak exhibits, and you can fail to seize audiences’ consideration.
Stars can also’t attend the autumn movie festivals in Venice, Toronto and Telluride, that are essential locales to launch awards season cam- paigns. Almost a yr in the past, Brendan Fraser started his charm-offensive tour within the Floating City on the best way to touchdown an performing Oscar for “The Whale,” and Sarah Polley’s drama “Women Talking” captivated the canyons of Colorado earlier than cinching the Academy Award for tailored screenplay.
It’s inconceivable to know the affect a press tour (or lack thereof) truly has on a movie’s field workplace. Would “The Flash,” a comic book e book adaptation from Warner Bros. and DC, have bought extra tickets in June had Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck been in a position to make the rounds on “The Tonight Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” each of which had gone darkish due to the writers strike? And the realm of promotion has solely shrunk for the reason that actors joined the writers on the picket strains.
“I don’t suppose it’s useful that late-night speak exhibits can’t air,” says Greg Marcus, CEO of Marcus Theatres. “It’s arduous to advertise with out them.”
Marcus, who operates the fourth-biggest chain within the nation, is fast to place the scenario in perspective. It’s not best, he says, however exhibitors have survived a sparse launch calendar earlier than. (Private theater leases, anybody?) And all these film followers who confirmed up for “Barbenheimer” had been handled not solely to the newest masterworks of Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, but additionally dozens of trailers for upcoming movies. It’s one of the crucial efficient methods for cinemas to unfold the phrase.
“Is this an excellent factor? No,” Marcus says. “But it’s not akin to the pandemic. When the actors are on strike, folks aren’t caught at dwelling in lockdown.”
That’s to not say he isn’t involved. “I would love it to be solved as shortly as attainable,” he provides. “We’re a enterprise on the mend.”
