Gower Street’s Director, Theatrical Insights, Rob Mitchell was invited onto Celluloid Junkie’s latest #CJCinemaSummit to give his thoughts on box office recovery worldwide.
Rob was joined by panellists Matthew Liebmann (Movio) and Ryan Miner (Megaplex Theatres), alongside regular hosts Patrick Von Sychowski and J.Sperling Reich.
Following the successful release of TENET this past weekend, all eyes turned to the international stage, and in particular, the recovery of cinema. Rob opened the webinar with his take on the global outlook. As host Patrick pointed out, despite the international success of TENET, there was a bigger film at the weekend. The release of THE EIGHT HUNDRED in China propelled the market past stage 5 in Gower Street’s 5-Stage Blueprint To Recovery, making it the first to make a full recovery. The criteria and calculation of the 5 stages were outlined by Rob in the webinar.
Further in the discussion, Rob gave examples of countries that had also hit various stages of recovery, including a slew across Europe. Emphasizing the need for more product, he explained that we cannot rely on one big title to ensure recovery – more releases are needed until the market can hit a critical mass. Using UK as an example, once WONDER WOMAN 1984 releases, the market will also benefit from the release of movies like BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC whilst TENET continues to play. The combination of these titles playing concurrently should be a catalyst for further recovery. This year is largely about getting people comfortable with being back in the cinema, and a large part of that is having big, new titles to show.
Following Rob’s detailed global update, the conversation turned to ways in which the exhibition industry can entice cinema-goers back, including taking aim at the loyalty programs on offer and the possible utilisation of data collected during the pandemic. Cinema marketing experts Matthew Liebmann and Ryan Miner both had their say in an intriguing and informative discussion.
You can watch the full webinar here.
