Did you hear the news? Godzilla and King Kong completely decimated Hong Kong, unfortunately, but also they may have just brought the movie business back to life.
Warner Bros. ‘ Godzilla vs. Kong debuted in theaters across the country last Wednesday, and while it was also released simultaneously on HBO Max, that did not stop the blockbuster from releasing monstrous numbers. By the end of the Easter weekend, the support pillar had raised nearly $ 50 million, easily crushing the influx of earlier pandemic films as if they were a multi-storey apartment complex. So far, no other COVID-era launch has exceeded $ 25 million in general first weekend sales in the US, and only Raya and the Last Dragon, Wonder Woman 1984, and Tom Jerry managed to reach US $ 20 million.
The box office success, first of all, suggests that consumers are increasingly comfortable sitting in theaters after a year of social detachment. Also, more subtly, it’s a bit of a middle finger – albeit very early and provisionally raised – to opponents who said that streaming would usurp cinema as the dominant method of film consumption when Warner announced its simultaneous release strategy in December. . Although HBO Max said that the film had a larger audience than any film or TV series released since the first service launched last May (HBO Max did not release specific figures), consumers seem to have spoken loud and clear: they they want to go back to the cinema.
“I think a great movie like this working should tell everyone if we’re rational in the way we release a title, there’s an appetite for people to have a shared experience in theaters,” Joshua Grode, CEO of Godzilla vs. KongThe producer, Legendary Pictures, commented on the results.
As some media analysts have said as the era of streaming has consolidated in recent years, watching movies at home and going to the theater can exist simultaneously, if not symbiotically. Godzilla vs. Kongthe dominance of both platforms is a great reminder that, although, of course, a better assessment will come when society is fully reopened and the choice is based on leisure and convenience, not security.
Still, industry watchers have been talking Godzilla vs. Kong—A film so bold and daring that it almost demands to be seen on the big screen – as the first real stress test of the theater industry’s recovery. The stakes were even higher when it was announced that cinemas in New York and Los Angeles would reopen in time for the blockbuster release date. (The two metropolitan areas alone account for more than 16 percent of domestic box-office sales.) And while cinemas in those two markets are currently limited to 25 percent of capacity, Los Angeles and New York were the highest-grossing areas in Godzilla vs. Kong, with almost 8% and 6% of the box office, respectively, according to Comscore.
“Without these two big online entertainment centers, we wouldn’t see those [box office] numbers, ”said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Godzilla vs. Kong it reached the ideal point of the big cities that are being reopened, and the implementation of vaccination instilled consumer confidence to the point that those who had the option of watching at home opted for the cinema experience.
“That is why the studios are waiting for the return of these two cities,” he added. “It would be more difficult to be convinced to launch a blockbuster if New York and Los Angeles were not available. It is not just about consumer confidence, but the confidence of the studio. ”And the increased confidence of the studio means that a series of other exciting titles planned for this summer—Black Widow, 9 fast, A peaceful place 2, Top Gun: Maverick– it probably won’t have to be pushed further back.
However, while Godzilla vs. Kong it may only have defibrillated the film industry, there is a long way to go before it comes out of life support entirely. For now, $ 50 million is fantastic; in normal times, it would be pretty mediocre, considering that the film cost $ 160 million to produce. Meanwhile GvK seems to prove that big-budget blockbusters still have a place in theaters, the fate of less, literally, explosive titles in theaters is even less clear. As with many facets of our lives, some post-COVID things will never be the same.
Still, with vaccination increasing daily and more and more cinemas returning to the market, executives and consumers can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And unlike the fictional universe of Godzilla vs. Kong, there is reason to hope that it will not be crushed into blackened rubble.