Still from “Raya and the Last Dragon.”
Disney
The cash register calendar is shifting again. In the past day, more than a dozen Hollywood titles have been pushed off the slate, to later in the year or 2022, due to the Covid pandemic.
Cinemas, hoping to hold out until March for a slew of new blockbuster features in December, watch as Sony, Disney and MGM delay major films.
On Thursday, the last James Bond movie, MGM’s “No Time to Die,” was pushed from April to October, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” was moved to November, and Sony’s “Morbius” and “Uncharted” went to 2022. Friday, Disney shifted half a dozen movies, including “The King’s Man,” later in the year or removed them from the calendar entirely.
The few films remaining in February and March are linked to streaming releases. AT & T / Warner Bros. “Tom and Jerry” will hit HBO Max and theaters February 26, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” will hit theaters and Disney + for $ 30 on March 5, and AT & T / Warner Bros. “Godzilla v. Kong” reaches HBO Max and cinemas on March 26.
Lions Gate’s “Chaos Walking” is the only major movie release without a day-and-date streaming plan.
“[Warner Bros.] made the right move all along, ” said Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations. They may not have made it through the right channels and may have thrown some feathers into the process, but make no mistake, WB is the only one besides Disney that really strengthens itself and theaters at the same time in a way that is safe and responsible. “
The US records at least 187,500 new Covid-19 cases and at least 3,050 virus-related deaths every day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC based on data from Johns Hopkins University.
While President Joe Biden has pledged to speed up vaccines across the country, only about 17.5 million doses have been administered so far.
Studios are concerned that the continued increase in coronavirus cases will keep moviegoers away from movie theaters, even with new titles playing on big screens. Many of these films have large production budgets and rely on strong ticket sales to break even.
However, studios with streaming services have a safety net, Bock said. For Warner Bros. Its dual release in theaters and on HBO Max allows it to bolster subscriber signups and monetize ticket sales.
It’s unclear how successful that strategy has been, as “Wonder Woman 1984” is the only Warner Bros. movie released in this way so far. AT&T will report quarterly results next week, so analysts will likely get a better idea of how the film performed for the company back then.
Disney’s release of “Raya and the Last Dragon” is also a first. Previously, the company had released “Mulan” on Disney + for a $ 30 premium, but it wasn’t released in theaters at the same time. Disney has not yet commented on how “Mulan” performed for the company.
“It’s going to be a tough sled for theaters,” said Bock. “[They] will have to rely on indie distributors until at least May. “
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC. Universal releases “No Time To Die” internationally, while MGM provides the domestic release.