Sony Executives Open Cinemacon by Skewering the Hybrid Release Strategy
It might be convenient to debut movies at home, but should that be the future?
Cinemacon started yesterday, and news outlets are already buzzing with what's going on there. Sony chair Tom Rothman got up in front of the crowd and decried the day-and-date release strategy that's taken over Hollywood.
Notably, Sony does not have its own streaming app and has chosen to hold titles during the pandemic rather than releasing them.
Rothman even congratulated 20th Century’s Free Guy on its box office performance, citing why it worked: “Number one, it’s terrific, and number two, you can’t watch it at home. Go fucking figure!”
Sony's Josh Greenstein said, "Debuting movies simultaneously in theaters and at home is devastating to our collective businesses."
These are big words to start the week. Especially after the summer box office saw Warner Bros. and Disney movies struggle. But Disney was able to mitigate the tough times by selling its movies for $30 to watch at home. Black Widow only opened to $80 million, but it made another $60 million at home, giving it a successful release.
No one was immune to the COVID epidemic. Every studio had to shift releases and suffer the consequences. Theaters had to close doors. Streaming became a huge part of the public's life.
But Rothman is not wrong, and we're seeing the movie industry disappear right before our eyes.
We're also seeing drastic changes in what people will see. Reminiscence didn't even crack more than a few million at the box office during its weekend, but HBO Max put it online and on the front of their homepage. You can worry that movies aimed at adults aren't opening, so studios could decide not to make them.
COVID has exacerbated that shift in thinking, and most places are trying to figure out if these are part of bigger trends or just outliers during two wild years of a worldwide pandemic. Hopefully, we don't see any massive changes or shifts until these numbers and practices can be looked at in an environment close to normal.
We'll let you know what else happens at Cinemacon this week!
