Bad year for the box office: even Almodóvar surrenders to Spider-Man to save the cinema

It only took five days Spider-Man: No way home to become the highest grossing film of 2021. Overcoming even the wave of infections caused by the omicron variant, the premiere of the franchise led by Tom Holland It has become the quintessential Christmas plan around the world, filling the seats with a frenzy worthy of another time. In Spain, according to data From Comscore, we have to go back to 2019 to find a week with more than two million and three hundred thousand viewers, and globally it has reaped the third best opening weekend in history.

Even his own Pedro Almodovar, on your visit to the program Late Motiv, called the wall-crawler as the “savior of the industry & rdquor; and he anticipated his visit to a session as a sign of gratitude. However, the ray of hope – and financial relief – that the Marvel universe film represents does not hide the critical state of the film industry in 2021. Unable to recover most of the lost viewers with the onset of the pandemic and facing a change in consumer habits that endangers their very existenceWill movie theaters survive the current situation?

“The Covid has been an earthquake for the foundations of the industry and also for us & rdquor ;, admits Fernando Lobo, responsible for communication of Ambassador Cinemas. The promoter of one of the youngest venues in the capital, located in the neighborhood of Lavapiés and which opened its doors in the summer of 2020 after delaying the opening due to the first wave, qualifies as a “question of survival & rdquor; the current state of the sector. “The balance since the opening is positive, but one always has a part of resentment, of bitterness, because the industry does not recover and people do not just return to the room. Many people are still afraid of going to the movies, especially the older ones & rdquor ;, he adds.

Plummeting

The data confirms their feelings. The fall in income from the film market compared to 2019 is estimated at 60%, with those over 35 years old – especially women – as the most reluctant to regain the habit, a key demographic for neighborhood cinemas and / or or independent. Ann Sarnoff, CEO of Warner Bros, held recently that for the sector to return to its own devices they need the return “of the whole wide spectrum of ages and tastes & rdquor; and that currently only “action, superhero and horror movies & rdquor ;, made for an audience less fearful of contagion, were able to sell tickets.

Polarization is not an exclusive feature of the current sociopolitical landscape: at the global box office, adrenaline-pumping franchises such as Fast & Furious, James Bond and the entire Marvel superhero range stands out as the only hits of the course. Will the cinematographic experience end up being a terrain forbidden to everything that is not a great popcorn blockbuster, the so-called ‘film-event’? In the absence of an answer, the truth is that products designed for a more adult audience such as West Side Story, The last duel, The Gucci house The Last night in Soho they have not met the collection expectations placed on them.

The absence of the public more akin to medium and low-budget productions, in genres such as drama, musical or comedy, has hit the independent companies in the sector hard. In the Spanish distributor and producer Counterflow, reference of the national market during the last decade, they opted to release their films in theaters despite the fact that the “intelligent & rdquor; At the business level, as a good part of the production companies did, it was to flee from the traditional exhibition and sell their catalog to the platforms. “Unfortunately, in 12 months we only got 800,000 viewers, but at least we got those viewers to theaters. If we want them to continue to exist in 2022 or 2023, we have to be with them now & rdquor ;, defends its Business Director, Eduardo Escudero.

Spanish cinema

The national industry has not escaped the disaster either. Spanish cinema closes the year with a box office close to 40 million euros, even below last year’s data, to thus mark the worst collection figure of what we have been in a century. Although stars of the caliber of Penelope Cruz The Javier Bardem lead some of the national premieres of the season, only Santiago Segura has been able to achieve massive attendance at theaters with his family comedy A full train: Destination Asturias. And the sixth wave of Covid-19 has now once again disrupted the recovery plans after the green shoots that were glimpsed in the third quarter of the year. “The perspectives we had of the Christmas campaign were very different. The environment of concern, or the reduction of capacity in communities such as Catalonia, they are not conducive factors for the rooms & rdquor ;, says Escudero.

This perfect storm is joined by the rise and consolidation of the platforms of streaming, which took over from the cinemas when they were forced to close due to the health crisis and released a good part of the films destined for the big screen. Above all, those middle-class releases with which to capture the public that continues to avoid theaters. The apocalyptic comedy of Netflix Don’t look upWith a stellar cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, it is the latest example of his progressive conquest of Hollywood. “The streaming will be the greatest enemy of cinemas & rdquor ;, warns in an article of the NBC the specialized analyst Jeff Bock, “They are bringing in the biggest talents from the big screen at a rate the industry has never seen before and with huge contracts.”

The global success of these platforms, and the decision of the big studios that if they could not with the enemy, it would be better to join him, It doesn’t just make them break subscriber records every quarter. It has also led them to forever transform the traditional model of exhibition windows in order to prevail in the battle for the hegemony of the streaming. If before the pandemic theaters could claim three months of exclusive exhibition, that figure has fallen to 45 days – or even lower – before jumping to digital platforms. Some blockbusters like Wonder Woman 1984 The The Suicide Squad they premiered in U.S simultaneously in cinemas and theaters, resulting in loud box office hits. In Spain, the great family bet of Disney for the holiday season, Charm, has landed in Disney+ less than a month after its release on the big screen. Can you fight against a rival who offers the same premiere a couple of weeks later and whose monthly price is comparable to that of a single ticket?

Better with the rooms

“It is obvious that the digital giants have come to stay. Now, to continue growing, they are interested in having more product and the sooner the better, but I think it has an expiration date & rdquor ;, predicts Escudero, who considers it counterproductive for platforms to give up the rooms definitively. “Cinema has been a very profitable form of exploitation and it can continue to be so& rdquor ;. A couple of months before the coronavirus changed our lives, Spanish cinemas celebrated a historical attendance record in 2019: more than 105 million viewers, the best figure of the decade. Fernando Lobo agrees: “The boom of the platforms will hit the roof and will be interested in having their films shown in theaters to generate extra income. In the end, most of its users are there for the series, not for the new one. Paolo Sorrentino”.

With It was the hand of God, a semi-biographical tale of Maradonian lyricism, the Italian thus joins other filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron The David Fincher in transferring its latest releases to Netflix, which tirelessly seeks to legitimize its strategy with the support that only the statuettes provide. On the downside, the intoxicating media silence and little cultural impact that reigns in those who refuse to fill the billboards and marquees with their posters to go directly to television. Will any occasional viewer be aware of the premiere this January 14 in Apple TV+ of Macbeth from Joel coen, starring the laureates Denzel Washington Y Frances McDormand? Was anyone from the launch of Finch, with Tom Hanks, o de Cherry, with the millennial idol Tom Holland, to give a couple of examples?

According to experts, we will have to wait until 2023 for the rooms to recover the levels of assistance prior to the pandemic, although the British consultancy Gower Street anticipates growth of up to 58% for next year compared to 2021. At the forefront of saving the conventional display model from extinction will be two of the most vocal figures in its defense: the megalomaniac. James Cameron with the sequel to Avatar and a Tom Cruise that will try to vindicate the cinematic experience with updates to its most iconic franchises: Mission Impossible 7 Y Top Gun 2. “I have produced between 30 and 40 films and I am responsible for thousands, tens of thousands of jobs & rdquor ;, alleged the actor in the magazine Empire to contextualize the significance of his position in the industry.

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To overcome the pandemic crisis and guarantee survival, Fernando Lobo asks support from public bodies –“A television campaign, for example, showing that cinemas are safe spaces & rdquor; – and a reflection on the part of all the agents of the sector. “We have to sit down with exhibitors, producers and distributors to reach agreements, establish a future framework and stop improvising & rdquor;” he says. From A Contracorriente, Eduardo Escudero does not hide his optimism about the future and the public’s willingness to return to sit in the armchair when sanitary circumstances allow it. “You can eat a wonderful pizza at home, but enjoying the same pizza in the restaurant with some friends, as a social event, is different & rdquor ;, he concludes. “The movie theater is another experience & rdquor ;.