There’s no doubt that the post-Covid box office has been rocked by fewer wide theatrical releases as streamers gobble up genres.
But AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron hears there is a silver lining in the future.
“In our conversations with Hollywood studios, one thing we’re most encouraged about is that so many studios are trying to increase the number of movies that they release now as compared with what they were releasing one or two or three years ago,” said Aron on today’s Q3 earnings call.
AMC CEO Adam Aron
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“We need the blockbusters, but we need the medium- and smaller-sized movies,” he said. “Some studios were producing 25 films and were down to 10-12. We talked to one major studio two weeks ago, who said their calendar aspiration for 2025 is to release 38 movies!” beamed Aron.
“That’s a lot of movies, by the way,” he added.
“Now whether they can actually release 38, there’s no commitment,” Aron said. “What I’m comforted by is that each and every studio that we talk to wants to issue more product.”
The Walt Disney Company has released some 20 movies this year among Searchlight, 20th Century Studios and Disney fare. Universal and Focus are poised potentially to have 30 next year.
However, what has been proved post-Covid is that just because there’s more movies, doesn’t necessarily mean there’s more money at the box office. Lionsgate released six wide-windowed entries between August and October this year, but all of them deep-sixed at the box office with openings ranging from $1.5M-$9M. Some studios have adjusted their marketing spends to what they believe will be the outcome at the box office and bank on downstream monies. But if you want to succeed theatrically, ya gotta spend big.