Last week we introduced a new visualization showing the effect of COVID-19 on the Domestic release calendar.
When viewing the big picture of the Domestic visualization it is natural to focus on major studio title moves. Viewing a localized calendar, with strong representation from local distributors, the impact of those global decisions on a specific market – and how that differs from market to market – becomes more apparent.
This week we are focusing on Mexico.
For best results view this page in a desktop browser such as Google Chrome. You might need to refresh the page to see it.
Hit ‘play’ to begin:
The visualization begins with the calendar as it was at the beginning of January this year, and progressing through all the changes we have seen this year so far.
Each film is a circle, its size showing the relative size of the predicted or actual box office. The colour represents the studio releasing it: circles fade when the film releases.
As the animation progresses, films moving to a future date arc over the top of the timeline. Films moving forward arc under the line. Any film that is removed completely or remains unset simply drops off the calendar.
Move your mouse over the circles and arcs to get more information on the films and calendar changes.
As you watch you will see the dramatic change flowing from the middle of March as the calendar experiences a mass exodus of titles, leaving a clear period in the schedule. Early global-release title moves such as James Bond film NO TIME TO DIE’s move from April to November (made locally March 6) and F9’s move out of year (made locally on March 13) are evident.
But Mexico saw cinemas close in late March, a week or more after most of Europe and the US had closed setting the global-release shifts in motion. Disney’s global moves came after this date, on April 6, followed a day later by Paramount. A massive set of subsequent changes by local distributors in Mexico is visible April 28 and 29.
You can also drag the timeline further into the future to visualize all the release changes and how they stretch into 2021 and beyond.
Do you have any questions about this visualization? Get in touch and let us know!
Perhaps you’re wondering how such radical changes might affect the box office? That’s detailed in our “Road to Recovery” report. You can buy international and domestic versions from our reports page.
