Screendollars

This week's Industry News Summary focuses on stories about planning for the eventual re-opening of the film and exhibition industry after the coronavirus pandemic has relented.  One article discusses planning at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, OK to re-open their doors "sometime in May", after completing significant changes in their operations. It's interesting to consider what changes they are making to their producedures for ticketing, concessions and seating and will be fascinating to see how the public responds. Another hot topic is the film programme a theater puts together for the early weeks after re-opening but before mainstream Hollywood new releases kick in.   We highlight an announcement by indie distributor IFC Films that it will make nearly 200 films from its library available to exhibitors for booking at no rental fee during the first month after their theatre resumes operations. We also discuss a new approach to on-line movie viewing known as "Virtual Cinema" "Theatrical Video on Demand".  Under this model, viewers can purchase a "Virtual Ticket" allowing them to watch a new film release that would normally have been playing at their local theater, and direct the proceeds from their ticket purchase to benefit their actual, local cinema. We commend all these efforts by distributors and exhibitors to work together and support each other during the current, unfortunate pause in cinema-going.

This week's report from Gower Street analyzes the percentage drop in Box Office on a state by state basis over the first four months of 2020 when compared with the same four-month period for 2017, 2018 and 2019.   While all states have suffered sharp declines, some have been harder hit than others.  Once the box office resumes, it will be interesting to keep track of how these numbers rebound, state by state, depending on opening schedules, business practices, and other factors. 

In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove discusses how the slow ramp up in attendance after theaters have re-opened will result in lower week-by-week box office results, even for the most anticipated blockbusters.  This, in turn, may result in longer theatrical runs for those releases to allow all interested viewers to get to the theater in due time.

Our newsletter concludes with our Weekly Film Calendar which lists studio releases for the nine weeks beginning June 12th, the many, many studio release changes announced last week, the MPAA's latest announcement on film ratings and a list of upcoming major film releases on streaming and DVD.

Screendollars helps exhibitors stay informed about the schedule of Hollywood film releases, important industry news and how to maximize earnings from in-theater advertising. We encourage exhibitors to contact us to learn more about Screendollars in-theater advertising and marketing programs.