Gower Street’s Latin American consultant, Xóchitl Pastor, was invited back to participate in the last session of the current series of UNIENDO Latam on June 23. She expanded on her previous analysis of using box office behaviour during the 2009 AH1N1 pandemic in Mexico as a basis for tracking box office recovery following COVID-19 across Latin America.
During the forum, Xóchitl presented her latest analysis: tracking box office performance since June 5, when cinemas across Mexico began to gradually reopen, against recovery rates following the AH1N1 crisis. Her analysis shows that the first two weeks of post-lockdown box office performed in a similar way to the market following the AH1N1 pandemic, but with a lack of new product in the third week, the theatre-by-theatre recovery rate took a dip. It was suggested that a way to encourage audiences to return to cinemas more consistently would be to utilise local product whilst waiting for MPA blockbuster titles, such as Mulan and Tenet, to release. Xóchitl also used data from two FORECAST territories, Mexico and Spain, as a model to estimate box office recovery for four other Latam territories: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, who report in admissions.
Overall, the forum’s panellists were positive about the future of cinemagoing in Latin America and beyond. A recent poll was shared which stated that at least 70% of cinemagoers in Brazil are eager to go to the cinema once sites reopen, and France was used as an example of audiences’ proven commitment to the big screen experience.
The full video for the June 23 event is available to view here:
UNIENDO Latam (Uniting Latam) is a weekly Film Industry Update Forum, launched on March 31 this year. Hosted by Comscore Latam, the weekly forum aims to keep the industry together during the COVID-19 crisis. The webinars feature a range of contributors and provide information on the current box office situation to aid decision making for Latin American exhibitors and distributors.
Xóchitl has participated regularly as a speaker at these weekly webinar events. You can view our article on the previous forums here. Access to all previous editions is available here.
