There appears to have been some sort of disconnect between the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), and Hollywood’s major studios (and emphasis on “major”) over today’s “Big Screen Is Back Event.” The organizers recruited former California Governor and the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to kick off the morning’s events, J.J. Abrams to introduce a short film on a still passionate 90-year-old theater usher and producer Jason Blum as the closing speaker. Unfortunately, outside of Lionsgate, who brought Maggie Q and showed footage of Jennifer Lopez’s upcoming “Shotgun Wedding,” the major studios simply provided trailers and featurettes almost everyone in the room had seen before. CinemaCon-lite or an event of any newsmaking significance, this was not.
READ MORE: “The Green Knight” trailer [Video]
Considering every major trade outlet (including the busy editor in chief of one who stayed for over two hours), NPR, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other influential media were on hand, this was a chance for the studios to emphasize their plans not just for the summer, but the fall and communicate that energy to the moviegoing public. Instead, the studios focused almost entirely on the summer or provided preview reels, such as Marvel Studios, that were released weeks earlier to the public. America and the world becoming may be more comfortable with moviegoing, but across the board, the studios held off on sharing too much for, we’ll assume, a variety of reasons.
Despite the studios’ hesitancy to hawk their wares outside the summer months, there was good news to report. NRG’s Ethan Titelman provided some impressive data on how moviegoers in the U.S. and in 13 key markets overseas are becoming increasingly comfortable returning to movie theaters. In April 2020, just 23% of American moviegoers were comfortable going to theaters. That jumped to 63% last month and as of May 17, it had shot up to 70%. With vaccine distribution increasing to those under 16 and the CDC’s recent recommendations on vaccinated individuals, Titelman believes that figure will hit 80% next month. Internationally, where the U.K. and France are just re-opening, that figure stands at 55% but is up 15 points since Jan 1. This data is based on surveys with over 1 million moviegoers in those key markets.
As for the larger presentation, Schwarzenegger turned out to have the most to say as he conveyed his love for movie theaters and how he believes without them he’d never have achieved global and political fame.
“I love being here. And the reason I love being here is I wouldn’t be for the theaters. If it wouldn’t be for the big screen,” Schwarzenegger remarked. “And I always say to people, ‘You can call me anything you want, but don’t ever call me a self-made man.’ The reason I’m saying that. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the theaters.”
He also spoke to the importance of movie theaters to the economy as a whole.
“We have 5800 theaters. We have 40,000 screens. 153,000 people working in those theaters in the United States,” Schwarzenegger notes. “Look how many jobs it creates. When you go into a theater someone has to unlock it, open it up. Someone has to go turn on the lights. Someone has to serve the popcorn.”
He adds, “Millions of people benefit when movie theaters open up. The retailers, the restaurants. That’s why it’s so important to be opening up now and people have the ability to see it on the big screen. This summer and this fall and this winner. I am so happy to say “We are back!”
13 studios were on hand to present footage and talent. It was mostly the independents and mini-majors who took advantage of the captive and hungry audience, however. A24 showed the first scene from David Lowrey’s “The Green Knight,” a suspenseful and epic moment that makes one think it could clearly crossover to mainstream audiences. They also had “Zola” director Janicza Bravo and editor Joi McMillion who were highly entertaining as they mocked the Q&A they were asked to participate in. NEON, who closed out the day, provided a captivating first look at Michael Sarnoski’s “PIG” starring Nicholas Cage and Alex Wolff as well as the first footage of the unannounced anthology film “The Year of the Everlasting Storm” directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and David Lowery, among others. And IFC Films brought out Sam Richardson (“Veep”) to introduce “Werewolves Within,” which debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival next month.
Other teases included an eight-minute scene from Warner Bros.’ “In the Heights,” Disney showing a short clip of “Cruella,” MGM presenting a new featurette for “Respect,” Searchlight Films presenting clips of both “Summer of Soul” and “The Night House,” Paramount Pictures presenting a behind-the-scenes look at “Snake Eyes,” and Universal showed an extended scene from “F9.”
Perhaps the venue needed to be bigger, maybe double or triple the number of press needed to be on hand. Whatever the reasons, an opportunity for a social media and newsworthy event was lost. In the long run, it won’t matter much. Moviegoers are going to continue to return to theaters, but what a missed opportunity to give it a bigger kickstart.
And a note to NATO, if you hope the press will travel to Las Vegas for a delayed CinemaCon in August, there are going to need to assurances that it will be worth their while.