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Tenet - Trailer and Discussion Thread (Opening 09/03/20)


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4 minutes ago, sblfilms said:


This didn’t happen. But Universal got the headline they wanted. Universal used two very different metrics, North American box office revenue for Trolls and global PVOD streaming revenue Trolls World Tour. Universal internally is projecting TWT to earn less money overall by skipping theatrical.

 

This info came from a source very high up in Universal on the theatrical distribution executive team that I personally know. It’s all posturing by Universal, and AMC/Regal. They’ll shrink the window further, but Uni knows they will make less money than going the traditional route. It mostly proves that there is some appetite for PVOD.

 

Doesn't surprise me that they used fuzzy math... it's also why I said the international theatrical market is too lucrative for them to just give up on. They do keep more of the profits from streaming as opposed to having to split box-office revenue with theater owners, but a studio lying about numbers is not surprising. The other thing that's stupid on Universal's part is that we're on a global lockdown and kids were home from school. Parents were desperate for someting to keep kids occupied and Trolls World Tour benefited from that on the home streaming front. These are special circumstances though and I'm not sure they can count on those numbers in more normal circumstances.

That said, I wonder if the money the studio saves by not having to ship a bunch of physical deliverables to theaters and the increase share of the revenue from digital streaming offsets the losses they would see from not going theatrical :hmm:. The streaming first/simultaneously model could definitely benefit lower to mid tier budgeted movies which saw shrinking windows from theatrical to VOD anyway. Like Trank's Capone may actually benefit from going on Demand if it's marketed correctly. Distribution isn't something I'm really all that knowledgeable of personally outside of generating deliverables so I'm just speculating from the cheap seats here. It DOES seem like, at least in North America, that streaming is on the rise in most parts of the country and this COVID thing may have accelerated what was already happening anyway. We'll see... Nolan's Tenet will be an interesting test case if audiences are really THAT eager to go back to crowded movie theaters. IF they stick to their guns. I'm going to read his piece in the Washington Post now.

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On the distribution side, the studios pay Deluxe $95 per site to get content and keys to theaters, so it’s not NOTHING, but the P part of P&A is well under 500k for even the largest North American releases now compared to 8-12 million a decade or so ago. And there are other services now like Cinevizion that charge even less for DCP distribution, and they are handling about 30% of releases these days. There is even a new outfit doing internet delivery of DCPs that is targeting $65 per site.

 

But I definitely see smaller flicks going day and date theatrical and PVOD, and major movies maybe going to a 4-6 week exclusive window, then PVOD, followed by traditional home video roll out.

 

Will be very interesting to see what Disney does over the next few years because that will really set the course for the industry.

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26 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Will be very interesting to see what Disney does over the next few years because that will really set the course for the industry.

Honestly I think it will be Disney that keeps the theatrical experience alive for a few more years... they make too much money at the box office with their Pixar, Marvel and even their Star Wars films to leave that on the table so the current model works for them, I think. They MAY be the last Studio to give up on theatrical exhibition at this point because they are just too damn greedy. I say that as someone who works for them right now :p

 

Quote

 

On the distribution side, the studios pay Deluxe $95 per site to get content and keys to theaters, so it’s not NOTHING, but the P part of P&A is well under 500k for even the largest North American releases now compared to 8-12 million a decade or so ago. And there are other services now like Cinevizion that charge even less for DCP distribution, and they are handling about 30% of releases these days. There is even a new outfit doing internet delivery of DCPs that is targeting $65 per site.

 

:shock: That's INSANE that it's that inexpensive these days. Quick question, How many theaters domestically and worldwide are still projecting 35mm prints? I know for a lot of international film festivals, an actual film print is still required in some countries and even THAT is changing quickly. When one of my shorts screened in Germany, I had to get a 16mm print made even though I had finished the film on video. This was a while ago but I know people who have had films screen overseas more recently and they've had to get actual film prints made for some festivals.

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16 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Quick question, How many theaters domestically and worldwide are still projecting 35mm prints?


Domestically, it’s well under 50 sites, and mostly rep houses like New Bev, or the Egyptian, and then hipster circuits like Alamo Draft House. Internationally I believe under 5% of theaters have 35mm equipment as of 2018. Probably close to the same percentage as thenUS now where is just rep houses in places like London or Paris. 

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3 hours ago, sblfilms said:


This didn’t happen. But Universal got the headline they wanted. Universal used two very different metrics, North American box office revenue for Trolls and global PVOD streaming revenue Trolls World Tour. Universal internally is projecting TWT to earn less money overall by skipping theatrical.

 

This info came from a source very high up in Universal on the theatrical distribution executive team that I personally know. It’s all posturing by Universal, and AMC/Regal. They’ll shrink the window further, but Uni knows they will make less money than going the traditional route. It mostly proves that there is some appetite for PVOD.

 

Also, even if T:WT did amazingly well via stream, a huge part of that has to do with it being one of the only new movies available right now. People are starved for new media.

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2 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Also, even if T:WT did amazingly well via stream, a huge part of that has to do with it being one of the only new movies available right now. People are starved for new media.


There are lots of interesting questions we can’t know. For example, does TWT do 100 million if families had just spent $20 renting Mulan on PVOD a few weeks before? Does TWT do 100 million of released the middle of March right when lockdowns began as opposed to after families have been cooped up inside for a month?

 

There is basically no better scenario for the movie to be released to PVOD and it has maybe generated about as much profit for Uni as the first did.

 

I think there may still be some mental block on the price when people are used to $5 VOD rentals and suddenly see $20, so maybe as it becomes more common they won’t be so off put by it?

 

Kinda funny but our average car spent $32 for Trolls over this past week :p 

 

And on the note of things not being normal, we did $40k in ticket revenue this last week, while we have an average weekend ticket revenue annually of $15k. It was wild.

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23 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I think there may still be some mental block on the price when people are used to $5 VOD rentals and suddenly see $20, so maybe as it becomes more common they won’t be so off put by it?

 

A $20 VOD rental is pretty shit compared to the theater if you're single but is a great deal if you'd have taken a family of four to the theater instead.

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Just now, Jason said:

 

A $20 VOD rental is pretty shit compared to the theater if you're single but is a great deal if you'd have taken a family of four to the theater instead.


No doubt, survey data we’ve seen in the industry suggests though that consumers are mostly comparing PVOD to standard VOD regarding pricing, less so to going to a theater because in the moment you are sitting on your couch with remote in hand deciding between a $20 rental, a $5 rental, or whatever is on your streaming service(s).

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3 hours ago, Jason said:

 

A $20 VOD rental is pretty shit compared to the theater if you're single but is a great deal if you'd have taken a family of four to the theater instead.

Parking and ticket price cost me at least 20 for an evening show for 1 so $20 is a no brainer foe me.

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2 hours ago, SimpleG said:

Parking and ticket price cost me at least 20 for an evening show for 1 so $20 is a no brainer foe me.

A ticket plus popcorn and a drink for just me is easily over 20 bucks... that's not counting a beer or cocktail if I'm in the mood. Just for me, I can easily spend damm near 40 bucks on a trip to the movies and have done so.

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59 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

We sold out the lot for Knives Out tonight, a movie that came out in November.

Super dumb question but do you send back the movies after a certain time ? If you do , who decides how long before you sent it back?

Also is there like a catalog you can choose from old films , I mean could you do LOTR screening , do you have to get permission?

 

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I just got out of a meeting today where we heard our mayor is planning on putting California on a level 2 status in the next couple of months where minimal risk businesses can be re-opened, but that level 4 openings (auditoriums, theaters, etc) probably won't be re-opening until next year. The discussion is that SoCal is doing bad with the virus (probably spiked due to all the beach idiots) while NorCal is doing very good atm, so the curve of overall safety is being thrown off.

 

I don't expect theaters to be allowed to show movies for a long time around here =/

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41 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Super dumb question but do you send back the movies after a certain time ? If you do , who decides how long before you sent it back?

Also is there like a catalog you can choose from old films , I mean could you do LOTR screening , do you have to get permission?

 


When we initially book a film, it’s typically 2 weeks minimum on a new release. After that we have the option to book it again for a week at a time and then we stop when we decide to play something else.

 

Every studio handles things different as far as catalog titles (called repertory in the industry) are concerned. Disney notably being the most withholding of product, and previously Fox being the one that made the most available.

 

Typically rep product has some minimum rental amount like $250 vs some smaller rental percentage, which we ends up being higher.

 

And you need permission to play any studio product.

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All of @sblfilms shameless promotion of his drive-in theater led me to a google search, and I was a little surprised to see that I have two drive-ins within reasonable driving distance. I works nights/weekends, so I probably won't be able to go any time soon, but it's cool to see that it's still an option.

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21 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

All of @sblfilms shameless promotion of his drive-in theater led me to a google search, and I was a little surprised to see that I have two drive-ins within reasonable driving distance. I works nights/weekends, so I probably won't be able to go any time soon, but it's cool to see that it's still an option.

My level of shame is a negative number!

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1 hour ago, TheLeon said:

All of @sblfilms shameless promotion of his drive-in theater led me to a google search, and I was a little surprised to see that I have two drive-ins within reasonable driving distance. I works nights/weekends, so I probably won't be able to go any time soon, but it's cool to see that it's still an option.

 

I thought your statement was going to end with, "I work nights/weekends so I'll probably go work at the drive-in"

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Update: "Is Tenet Still Sticking to July 17th Release Date?

 

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Will it? Won’t it? Can it? Exhibitors, rival studios and the town have been paralyzed all week wondering whether Warner Bros.’ Tenet will remain on its July 17 release date and bring the world’s movie theaters back from this coronavirus deep-freeze they’ve been suffering since mid-March.  Here’s what we know at this time: solid sources hear that Warner Bros needs at least 80% of the world’s theaters to be open, including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco (which rep 25% of a pic’s opening weekend), in order to keep Tenet on its original release date.

If such signs don’t appear positive in the next three weeks or sooner, Tenet moves. In order to make bank on a $200M production, Warners needs the globe’s exhibition infrastructure intact. The crown lays heavy on Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan, as they know they have a huge responsibility to get the motion picture industry back on track. But they’re not going to lose any skin in opening Tenet, and they’re certainly not going to put the greater movie-going public in danger.

 

And if Tenet moves, everything else in the near future slides –Mulan, Wonder Woman 1984, etc, God forbid there’s another spike in COVID-19 cases. Just like we told you what would happen in the wake of MGM’s No Time to Die move, everything moved, and this time it will be further into the fall and beyond. Exhibitors were waiting for a decision this week as to whether Tenet would stay or not, and no news is good news.

 

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1 hour ago, Emperor Diocletian II said:

OLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

 

How I would've LOVED to have been a fly on the wall when Chris Nolan found this out :rofl:

 

 

 

His brother Jonathan (of Westworld fame) is a big time gamer so he may have been a factor in this. I'm not so sure Christopher himself isn't a gamer. Also i read an article the other day that talked about how much studios relied on live sports to market their films. Without live sports they are looking for other ways to increase awareness of upcoming movies so advertising in the most popular videogame in the world makes more and more since now that I think about it.

 

 

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Couple of things... "From The Director of Dark Knight, Inception and Dunkirk." just ignored Dark Knight Returns and Interstellar, huh? Also John David Washington sound just like his father in some of those scenes. Movie looks awesone and I would LOVE to see this on the big screen... but I don't think it's gonna happen unless I KNEW I was gonna be in there by myself :p

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