Hollywood’s future teeters on the brink at a tragic CinemaCon

If this year’s CinemaCon were a movie, the film industry’s frenetic four-day promotion run by the National Association of Theater Owners in Las Vegas would be a nail-biting movie ending with “To Be Continued…?” It could be a cliffhanger. Tag.

From the gigantic Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace (where most (but curiously not all) of Hollywood’s major studios announced their upcoming plans) to the nearby smoke-filled cigar lounge and upscale sushi counter. All the buzz at last week’s CinemaCon is that the industry will be able to survive the next nine months to enjoy stellar box office returns in 2025 and beyond.

By that point, studios will have recovered from the self-inflicted injury of last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes and produced enough titles to maintain a robust theatrical market. Fickle, cost-conscious audiences who have been hibernating during the height of the pandemic will find that the convenience of streaming can only replace much of the magic of moviegoing. And theater owners who are avid members of NATO (yes, they know that unfortunate acronym) have significantly innovated their businesses, from concessions to sound and image presentation. Even the starchiest couch potato will find this theater’s irresistible charm. lobby.

Maybe some movies are actually good!

But it all comes down to whether studios, distributors, and exhibitors actually emerge from the end of 2024 unscathed. This year’s release schedule has only about 100 films released, 20% fewer than the pre-pandemic average, but it’s so packed with content that you’d think movie stars might have been prescribed the prized drug Ozempic. looks thin. AMC Theatres, North America’s largest theater company, is on the verge of bankruptcy, while its coolest theater, the Alamo Drafthouse, is up for sale.

And thanks to both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery being forced into Wall Street’s drenched merger and acquisition fantasy, one or two fewer studios will exist in their current form this year. It may just end.

This combination of instability meant that CinemaCon 2024 proceeded with a grin-and-bear, fingers-crossed energy.

Unfounded optimism?

Only 20 months left until James Cameron’s third appointment Avatar Movies will surely save us all. But does anyone in charge have a plan to ensure the industry gets there?

You might think that a giant casino full of movie stars, studio executives, industry analysts, and theater owners might have a solution or two. Instead, the answer was resolute, “Good luck, kitten.”

“The big story of this CinemaCon is not that the business model has collapsed, but as I look to the future, in 2025 and 2026, our industry will be healthy again, robust again, strong again. I think that’s what it means,” Chief Adam Aaron said. AMC Theaters executives told the crowd without elaborating on what would happen in the meantime.

Meanwhile, in his State of the Industry speech to officially open CinemaCon, NATO Chairman and CEO Michael O’Leary said, “Inflection points like this are moments of opportunity,” before going on to say: He made this week’s ultimate Freudian gaffe. “The future of this industry is limited, er, unlimited.”

By the time one exhibitor ironically quoted Robert Altman’s biting Hollywood satire, player – confuses the intentionally empty slogan at the center of the film, “Movies are better than ever” with a genuine rallying cry of sorts – enough to inspire a dozen or so end-of-the-world thrillers There was an apocalyptic signpost (which theaters would naturally slaughter).

The “truth” that crept into the meeting didn’t do much to instill confidence.

On the first day of CinemaCon, NATO released a promo featuring “box office success stories” from the past year. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and flash. Later that week, Universal Pictures executive Jim Orr proudly stated that in 2023, for the first time in 20 years, the year’s top three films will be “original films.” super mario bros movie and barbiea title that didn’t come about completely out of thin air.

The next day, Paramount chief Brian Robbins boasted that the studio would reboot the film. mean girls Opening at No. 1 and “Staying for 3 Weeks in a Row!” The fact that the film faced a lack of competition in a tougher-than-usual January, and its meager $6.7 million in its third week of release was its lowest grossing record. Otherwise, this would have been a truly great accomplishment. . It was the first movie in North America to top the box office in about a year and a half.

Big names are not in the game

To better understand the future of Hollywood, we needed to understand not just what was happening at CinemaCon, but what wasn’t happening.

Sony Pictures declined to attend due to cost-cutting measures, shifting attention to rivals Warner Bros. Discover, Universal, Paramount, Disney and Lionsgate. Despite being involved in a theatrical game of hit or miss with Martin Scorsese (Murderers of the Flower Moon) and Ridley Scott (napoleon) Last year, Apple TV+ was nowhere to be found. After reports in 2022 suggested that Amazon MGM Studios would spend $1 billion a year on theatrical releases, the studio would secretly meet with select exhibitors and press instead of taking to the Coliseum stage. The event was opened to reveal future titles privately.

And many top celebrities Chris Hemsworth (including both WB stars) trotted out to drum up excitement for the highly anticipated blockbuster. Furiosa: Mad Max Saga and Paramount’s transformers one), Dwayne Johnson (Disney) Moana 2) and Ariana Grande (Universal’s two-part musical big bet) Evil) – Star quotient has decreased significantly compared to previous editions.

When CinemaCon’s most beloved hero, Tom Cruise, walked in front of the audience and brought the venue to its knees. Mission: Impossible – Fallout Stunt performed in 2018 and then world premiere top gun: maverick To an enthusiastic audience in 2022 – I couldn’t even be persuaded to register my excitement. next video Me: Me Something is wrong with the film.

Even soirées seem firmly locked in downsizing mode, with all-you-can-eat seafood spreads replaced by catch-and-if-you-can sliders and solitary crudité platters.

Business-critical issues that exhibitors of all shapes and sizes face every day, such as increasingly demanding demands from studios and distributors regarding contractual obligations regarding revenue splits and theatrical run times for films. The answer is elusive. Frustratingly vague.

And for consumers? Variable pricing (pay extra for more anticipated titles), fewer traditional screens (the 270-degree Screen Get ready for more experiments, such as increasing the number even more. Nacho cheese (the one in the center, a viscous yellow substance bursting out of a frankfurter tube like some kind of Cronenberg horror).

wishing for a happy ending

Was CinemaCon all doom and gloom? Even the thinnest studio slate rarely promises at least a handful of truly exciting cinematic visions.

Warner Bros. ‘ FuriosaThe shockingly loud new footage, debuted by director George Miller with stars Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy, looks epic: Fury Road.universal expectations Evil It felt a little premature, but a sequel starring Glen Powell could have hit the jackpot. twisters.Lionsgate has brought out big guns, often literally, to make its spinoffs stand out. John Wick Presents: Ballerinaa high-concept Aziz Ansari comedy. good luckand the slick Michael Jackson biopic, Michael.Disney made Walt spin in his grave and let the F-bomb fly deadpool & wolverine (Nearly everyone in attendance cited it as the biggest box office hit of 2024).

And even though, or perhaps because, this was their last CinemaCon, Paramount went all out, advertising executive Chris Aronson on a tank surrounded by guards in swords and sandals. Introduced to. Gladiator II (That footage revealed star Paul Mescal fighting not only his fellow Romans, but also monkeys, sharks, and even a very angry rhino).

No matter how many times studio heads invoke the “magic of movies,” the footage on display and the filmmakers’ genuine enthusiasm for the big-screen experience will keep industry-wide anxiety at bay, at least for a few days. It was enough. time. It’s like a movie night.