Commentary

Theatrical Movies Have Found A Home - In Theaters

Streaming of high-profile, big-production movies seems to have found its place in the market: They benefit from the initial, exclusive airings in theaters.

But for how long should they stay on the big screen before moving to those smaller home screens?

This time of year, many big holiday films and franchises have taken up headlines, including “Moana,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator,” among others

Virtually no movie or streaming executive would believe any of those box-office blockbusters should have had their start on streaming.

Successful theatrical movies that quickly pull in $200 million to $300 million or more soon after their theatrical debut obviously seem to have made the right call.

That said, all isn’t completely back to normal. Not only is U.S./Canada domestic box-office revenue not near the levels of the pre-pandemic period of 2019 (down 24%), but  this year’s results are still around 5.6% behind that of box-office revenue a year ago -- $7.9 billion, according to IMDb's Box Office Mojo. especially young people.

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Many big-budget, fantasy, action-adventure, animated movies will, however, continue to pull people into the theaters.Young people, especially.

But what remains are mid-level, more adult-skewing/non holiday-centric movies that theater owners have counted on in between the rush for those blockbuster franchises. They have found a home on streaming services.

Also consider that the bulk of new movies on streaming do not result in sharp subscriber spikes. The goal is to keep big blockbuster movies in theaters for as long as possible.

NBCUniversal is still making big bucks from “Wicked” in theaters. Three weeks into its theatrical run, which started November 22, the company still hasn’t announced when it will move to Peacock.

“Wicked” is still packing in big theatrical crowds -- $361.7 million domestically and $527.9 million globally in box office revenue.

Peacock might get “Wicked” sometime in the early January/February period when theatrical business sees lighter attendance.

In that meantime, all the promotion and marketing around “Wicked” -- starting with NBCUniversal's big effort around using its TV networks as a promotion platform with on-air promos for the movie -- continues to build interest, awareness, and demand.

Blockbuster movies “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “Inside Out 2” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” continue to stay in theaters for months.

Still, streamers don’t want to wait too long. One report says that for the first two months of 2024, the average gap between the theatrical opening day and the streamers’ debuts was just 68 days. For the same period in 2023, it was 90 days.

More modest performers might get the heave-ho earlier. And for consumers, that can be a problem.

Last year one moviegoer in a social-media post complained about how quickly movies like “Creed 3” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” moved to streaming from theaters: “I feel a little ripped off now.”

And how well did those movies do? "Creed III" posted $156.3 million domestically, while “Shazam” did less well at just $57.6 million.

Consumer perception counts for a lot. But theatrical supply and demand business formulas have their own drama.

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