The pandemic has affected many industries, including cinema and entertainment, that have become dependent on technology to survive. December has always been one of Hollywood’s most successful months. Successful films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, “Avatar” and Disney’s Star Wars films brought in huge box office numbers during the holiday season.
This year the trend will continue with two of the most anticipated films of the year going toe-to-toe on the Christmas weekend like “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Alma” competing for viewers’ time. It is a classic box office battle that we saw many times during the holidays. But this year there is a big difference: this confrontation will not be at the box office, but also in the living rooms.
“Wonder Woman 1984”, the sequel to the superhero starring Gal Gadot, debuts on HBO Max – and in theaters – on Christmas Day, while “Soul”, a Pixar animated film starring the vocal talents of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, debuts exclusively on Disney +. Both will be available for free to subscribers.
The battle between the two films is less about bragging rights. Without traditional measures of success, such as box office sales or rent on demand, we may never really know which film was most popular with the public, or even about the financial results of the films.
Instead, the confrontation is a perfect symbol of how radically things have changed in Hollywood this year and how much they can continue to change as we move into 2021.
A box office battle without a box office
“Without the ability to take these films to theaters behind traditional global marketing campaigns, these two films are becoming the only viable option their studios have at the moment: living rooms,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice. .com, to CNN Business. “This is a situation that no one could have anticipated a year ago. We are talking about an extraordinarily unique circumstance that has impacted two fundamental brands in the entertainment world. “
Robbins added that, for consumers, having these movies available on streaming services is a way of “being careful” and at the same time obtaining “uplifting entertainment.” For studios, it is a way of “testing how to potentially navigate future releases”.
This is especially true for the two studios behind the films: Warner Bros and Disney.
The studios, two of the oldest in Hollywood, plunged headlong into the streaming market this year, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted Hollywood productions and destroyed theaters.
WarnerMedia, Warner Bros. ‘and CNN’s parent company announced earlier this month that all of the studio’s 2021 films would premiere on HBO Max and in theaters on the same day. “Wonder Woman 1984” is the beginning of this strategy.
Not to be outdone, Disney announced several films for Disney + earlier this month and experimented with its big budget remake of “Mulan”, putting it on its streaming service for an additional $ 30. The studio will try this strategy , which he calls Premier Access, again in March with the animated film “Raya and the Last Dragon”.
All of this comes after a year in which Hollywood experienced its future on demand. Universal started the trend in April, after the coronavirus outbreak, launching the Trolls World Tour directly to digital. Other studios followed suit.
What will happen to “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Soul” this weekend could give both studios a better understanding of how to release other great films going forward.
Zak Shaikh, vice president of programming and entertainment at research-based media company Magid, believes the move is basically bringing in new subscribers, which is the lifeblood of these growing services, while keeping current ones happy enough not to cancel.
“These are huge titles and are part of big brands,” he told CNN Business. “For HBO Max, it is an effective way to get new subscribers. For Disney +, which is more established, this is a way to keep existing customers happy and to ensure that ‘Soul’ is seen by as wide an audience as possible. “
The end of ‘The World’s No. 1 Film’?
Much of the buzz that can drive a film’s success usually comes from the fact that it is labeled “The World’s No. 1 Movie” in TV and social media ads. This is much more difficult to do when it comes to streaming, as services keep viewing data very close to the vest. Even when companies release the numbers, they still don’t tell the whole story.
Robbins said it is difficult to speculate about the future of tracking box office numbers, but he would not be surprised if metrics evolve along with all the other changes that are taking place in Hollywood now.
“There was a time when box office records weren’t the headline thieves they are today, so it’s easy to see some potential evolution in how they will be seen if more films choose a streaming strategy in a post-pandemic world,” he “Counting ticket sales has its own set of complications, but that task is a simplified walk in the park compared to determining how studios count flows.”
Although an increasing number of Hollywood studios are focusing on streaming, things could return to normal next Christmas, thanks to a large part of the population being vaccinated. This could help bring cinemas back – and with them, the good old box office battles that count ticket sales instead of flows.
“Hollywood has effectively adapted to the pandemic and is fortunate to have the means of distribution for it,” said Shaikh. “What I don’t think I say is that this is necessarily a sign of things to come. Next year, you may well see a recovery with audiences desperate to return to a real theatrical experience. “
Copyright CNN