Film Industry Restructures Marketing System for Pandemic
Soul - Pixar
A few months ago, A Hot Set looked at the questionable future of the film industry with the pandemic barely just starting to have its effects on the United States and movie theaters not having been reopened yet. Unfortunately, here we are months later, nearing towards the end of the year, and the cinema market’s future is still looking unclear.
In that earlier article, it was a big question if theaters would reopen. Would theaters implement new rules and protocols? Would customers even go back themselves? Maybe not the right or anticipated responses, some of those questions were, at least, answered. In August, the program CinemaSafe launched with the resurgence of theaters. This program acted as a way to ease moviegoers’ minds, ensuring that they could still be safe while at the theaters. Theaters implement more obvious protocols like masks, hand sanitizers, and social distancing. However, it does more with air filtration, reduced capacity, and employee health training. Along with guidelines, their website provides a list of participating theaters and each state’s current regulations. NATO President John Fithian reassures that the main priority is safety, declaring, “We felt like we needed to promote safety in going back to cinemas first before we get to the broader marketing campaign of getting people back to cinemas.”
Already almost two months after its release, Tenet has grossed $341,600,00 worldwide as of October 26. That number seems like it would classify as a success, but it is still small compared to the film’s $205 million production budget. It’s not like Christopher Nolan is an unknown or upcoming director. From the start, when the main cast was revealed, there was already buzz and high expectations for the film’s success. So, its fall back should act as a huge wake-up call to the industry.
Therefore, it’s hard to say that there is one movie that will help revive the theaters. Theaters are feeling the pressure to wait until a line of films is set to release because one just isn’t enough.
Even one of the highest-grossing productions companies, Walt Disney Co., has lost its streak. Disney’s live-action remake Mulan, projected to be a summer 2020 blockbuster, continues to nosedive at the box office.
Unlike Warner Bros., Disney took a different approach in marketing their film. In the United States, Disney+ subscribers can watch Mulan – if they pay an additional $30. So, not that great of a deal. Because of that, the film made about $60-90 million compared to its $200 million production budget in the first two weeks of its release. Internationally, Disney released Mulan in theaters, which built up an international box office number of $69,850,000 as of October 26. That’s still relatively low, and there’s no official reason as to why the demand to watch the film is not present in other countries. Compared to other companies, Disney may have put in a little more thought into their marketing strategies, but the outcome still had its drawbacks. It goes to show that nothing is certain in the midst of this pandemic.
So, now that the industry has gotten a taste of a mid-COVID reopening, it’s time to think – what are the new next steps?
On October 12, Walt Disney Co. announced that its future lies primarily with Disney+ now. That means that Pixar’s new animated film Soul is moving to the streaming platform, but a more anticipated film like Black Widow will still . It seems like the studio is trying to be realistic, but not look too long-term just in case things do seem to turn up.
John Fithian spoke on behalf of the industry and theaters, stating, “Our decision in the United States was to bifurcate our outreach, doing safety protocols first and the comeback campaign later. The studios are very much involved with us in that second campaign, but they don’t want to launch it until things stabilize a little bit more in the United States: until we definitely have movies on the slate and more people coming back into the cinema.”
How are the theaters coping? According to Deadline, AMC theaters are at the brink of filing for bankruptcy with the shares dropping by 13 percent. AMC theaters don’t mind following a 17-day film exhibition window. They’ve entered a deal with Universal stating that if they minimize the window, they’ll receive a portion of the revenue from digital streams. Meanwhile, Cineworld, whose shares have fell by 8 percent, refuses to shorten the exhibition window.
Which of these theater companies is taking the right approach? NATO chairman Rolando Rodriguez comments that it’s a little too soon to make any large decisions, declaring, “we were a $42 billion-plus industry worldwide last year. How do you replace that? If you’re not careful, you could, in essence, try to replace that into other channels that, at least so far, haven’t proven to be the case, even in a time period where the theaters have been shut down. The economics really haven’t shown yet that it’s necessarily the way to go […] should that window be looked at differently? Absolutely.”
With the reopening of theaters we’ve seen in the last couple of months, the film industry’s plan has worked to an extent. While safety and hygiene measures are advanced, the plan isn’t enough to save the industry entirely. The country is well into the pandemic. People have realized it’s not something we can fix overnight as it’s been said that it will most likely keep on until mid-2021. Even then, it feels like that end date keeps getting further and further. Therefore, it seems safe for the film industry to create a backup plan in case things do get to the point when exhibition windows need to shorten or close. As seen with Mulan and Tenet, the moviegoers are still hesitant to go back to theaters. Should the industry still take the risk of another film to bring the customers back?
