Coronavirus Movie Theatre Reopening Thread | Release Date Changes/Production News | Theaters are dead. Long live streaming!

[TepidShark 3]

1 hour ago, lorddemaxus said:

 

 

 

Can't speak to other counties but Santa Clara (where San Jose is), is not opening movie theaters despite moving to the red tier due to a local Risk Reduction Order. San Francisco per Deadline, is delayed another week despite indoor theaters not being listed at all on the mayor's reopening plans at all. Deadline also says Los Angeles could come at the end of the month but that personally seems unlikely to me (but I live in the Bay Area so I'm not on the ground there).

Edited September 8, 2020 by TepidShark

[sfran43 24,336]

 

[sfran43 24,336]

 

[doublejack 1,646]

Just to update the situation in Michigan, movie theaters remain closed even after gyms, pools and other types of indoor businesses were allowed to open this week. The bottom has started to drop out on the weather, too. It has been in the 60s the last few days here, dipping into the 50s at night. It is supposed to get back into the 70s by next week, but it is safe to say that summer weather is over. That means flu season is not that far off. Combined with the fact that kids are back to school, largely from home, the demand for theaters even if they open will be low.

 

I think if movie theaters do open in Michigan in 2020 again it will be short lived. I'm starting to suspect they just won't open if it doesn't happen in the next week or two. There are other businesses, such as bowling alleys, that remain shuttered by the govern's orders as well. Whitmer is taking a very cautious approach and I don't see where the situation will materially improve over the next few weeks. Large employers, such as the "big 3" automakers, are telling employees to continue working from home until summer 2021. Everyone seems to expect a COVID spike soon, or at least elevated risk of one.

 

In a bit of an outrage, Tenet is not playing at the multi-screen drive-in situated just outside Detroit. Looks like it is poised to get absolutely nothing in terms of box office from the whole state.

[sfran43 24,336]

 

[imbruglia 1,567]

Sony Won’t ‘Make the Mistake’ of Releasing a $200 Million Movie Until More Theaters Reopen

 

“What we won’t do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie out in the market unless we’re sure that theaters are open and operating at significant capacity,” Vinciquerra said during Bank of America’s 2020 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.

 

“You’ll see a lot of strange things happen over the next six months in how films are released, how they’re scheduled, how they’re marketed, but once we get back to norma,l we will have learned a lot I think and found ways to do things that are somewhat different and hopefully better,” Vinciquerra said during the conference, which was live streamed. “We have a film opening this weekend, a small film, which I think will do pretty well.

 

https://www.thewrap.com/sony-wont-make-the-mistake-of-releasing-a-200-million-movie-until-more-theaters-reopen/

[titanic2187 5,136]

3 minutes ago, imbruglia said:

Sony Won’t ‘Make the Mistake’ of Releasing a $200 Million Movie Until More Theaters Reopen

 

“What we won’t do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie out in the market unless we’re sure that theaters are open and operating at significant capacity,” Vinciquerra said during Bank of America’s 2020 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.

 

“You’ll see a lot of strange things happen over the next six months in how films are released, how they’re scheduled, how they’re marketed, but once we get back to norma,l we will have learned a lot I think and found ways to do things that are somewhat different and hopefully better,” Vinciquerra said during the conference, which was live streamed. “We have a film opening this weekend, a small film, which I think will do pretty well.

 

https://www.thewrap.com/sony-wont-make-the-mistake-of-releasing-a-200-million-movie-until-more-theaters-reopen/

In the face to Nolan

[excel1 1,759]

Nolan and WB deserve credit for taking the first step. Someone had to do it. 

[doublejack 1,646]

2 hours ago, titanic2187 said:

In the face to Nolan

Nolan's insistence on releasing Tenet during a pandemic will prove to be very costly. I can't overstate how bad of an idea it was. Kind of ironic given his brilliance.

 

Sony is being smart. BO is dead for the next 6+ months, at least.

[doublejack 1,646]

5 minutes ago, excel1 said:

Nolan and WB deserve credit for taking the first step. Someone had to do it. 

I don't know. I suppose there is some credit deserved for proving that the market is unsuitable for expensive tent poles. However, I honestly don't think anyone should have learned from the failure. What were they expecting? A miracle? Things are playing out just as many expected they would. Tenet is going to wind up a huge money loser.

[sfran43 24,336]

Predictions for this weekend's top 5 films at the domestic box office.

 

Rank	Film (Distributor)	Weekend Gross	Total Gross	% Change	Week #
1	Tenet (Warner Bros.)	$7.5 M	$30.2 M	N/A	3
2	The Broken Hearts Gallery (Sony / TriStar)	$2.0 M	$2.0 M	NEW	1
3	The New Mutants (Disney / 20th Century)	$1.9 M	$15.2 M	-37%	3
4	Unhinged (Solstice Studios)	$1.5 M	$13.8 M	-17%	5
5	Bill & Ted Face the Music (United Artists Releasing / Orion)	$0.5 M	$3.0 M	-35%	3

[Porthos 49,424]

Looks like Placer County has been placed in the "Substantial" tier as of last week (as opposed to Widespread) which means the movie theaters there can open. 

 

Sacramento County proper and Yolo County next door are still on the no-go list, though.  But there are some theaters in the Roseville/Rocklin area, bringing up the total number of theaters back open to five, starting tomorrow. 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Porthos

[Plain Old Tele 147,785]

2 hours ago, doublejack said:

I don't know. I suppose there is some credit deserved for proving that the market is unsuitable for expensive tent poles. However, I honestly don't think anyone should have learned from the failure. What were they expecting? A miracle? Things are playing out just as many expected they would. Tenet is going to wind up a huge money loser.

I’m not sure a man who (metaphorically) steps on a rake should be praised for showing that yes, it’s actually painful. 

[dudalb 6,851]

15 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Looks like Placer County has been placed in the "Substantial" tier as of last week (as opposed to Widespread) which means the movie theaters there can open. 

 

Sacramento County proper and Yolo County next door are still on the no-go list, though.  But there are some theaters in the Roseville/Rocklin area, bringing up the total number of theaters back open to five, starting tomorrow. 

And with all the freaking smoke in the air from the wildires in Sacramento and surrounding counties, People might not really want to go outside unless absilutely necessary anyway.

[dudalb 6,851]

3 hours ago, excel1 said:

Nolan and WB deserve credit for taking the first step. Someone had to do it. 

TO quote of my DI's in US Army  Basic Training.  when somebody messed up on tactical training  "That is not being brave, that is being stupid".

[sfran43 24,336]

 

 

Weekend Forecast

Film	Distributor	3-Day Weekend Forecast	Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, September 13	% Change from Last Wknd
Tenet	Warner Bros.	$5,800,000 – $7,400,000	$28,400,000 – $30,000,000	-30% to -11%
The Broken Hearts Gallery	Sony / TriStar Pictures	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	NEW
The New Mutants	Disney / 20th Century Studios	$1,800,000	$15,000,000	-41%
Unhinged	Solstice Studios	$1,200,000	$13,500,000	-33%
Bill & Ted Face the Music	United Artists Releasing	$400,000	$2,900,000	-48%
The Personal History of David Copperfield	Disney / Searchlight Pictures	$260,000	$1,470,000	-21%
Words on Bathroom Walls	Roadside Attractions	$200,000	$1,920,000	-27%

Edited September 10, 2020 by sfran43

[CloneWars 2,796]

Bond is Sony, right? So, I guess that is moving. I don't see Disney staying either. That would just leave WB. Maybe they move WW84 to December? If it moves to 2021 then, 2020 will have been vacated completely. Either way, I don't see any more major films getting released. I think WB hasn't announced a move yet to placate movie theaters and not cause a panic among them, but the truth is, 2020 can't be salvaged and the Tenet gross proved that.

[datpepper 32]

25 minutes ago, CloneWars said:

Bond is Sony, right? So, I guess that is moving. I don't see Disney staying either. That would just leave WB. Maybe they move WW84 to December? If it moves to 2021 then, 2020 will have been vacated completely. Either way, I don't see any more major films getting released. I think WB hasn't announced a move yet to placate movie theaters and not cause a panic among them, but the truth is, 2020 can't be salvaged and the Tenet gross proved that.

Bond is United Artists here in the US, Universal overseas. While box office in Europe seems to have fairly recovered, UA is a recently re-launched distributor stateside and seems to be hinging a lot on NTtD's domestic performance, so I think they'll probably end up forcing Uni's hand and moving it to next year. Disney will probably be moving Black Widow to next year as well, Soul possibly to Disney+ Premier Access (or it could take Raya's spot in March since, given the recent shift that happened regarding the creative team and the lead voice actress, that movie might not be ready in time). We'll see if they care enough about any of the Fox films on the schedule to shift them. I think it's gonna be a long time before another movie of even half of Tenet's scale opens in theaters.

[dudalb 6,851]

1 hour ago, CloneWars said:

Bond is Sony, right? So, I guess that is moving. I don't see Disney staying either. That would just leave WB. Maybe they move WW84 to December? If it moves to 2021 then, 2020 will have been vacated completely. Either way, I don't see any more major films getting released. I think WB hasn't announced a move yet to placate movie theaters and not cause a panic among them, but the truth is, 2020 can't be salvaged and the Tenet gross proved that.

yeah SONY Is pretty much saying they will not release any major films until the virus is wel lunder control. You can kiss No Time To Die goodbye for 2020 in the US at least.

[filmlover 43,238]

5 hours ago, doublejack said:

I don't know. I suppose there is some credit deserved for proving that the market is unsuitable for expensive tent poles. However, I honestly don't think anyone should have learned from the failure. What were they expecting? A miracle? Things are playing out just as many expected they would. Tenet is going to wind up a huge money loser.

They already spent a ton of marketing money on TV spots and billboards around late June/early July for the late July release date that ended up being a loss once it became apparent that we had miserably failed in containing the virus and it couldn't open. Plus there were other promotional efforts like magazines over the summer. Already seems like it was becoming a write-off for the studio even before it opened, the numbers just confirmed it would be.

 

Everyone is likely waiting to see what the numbers for it are this weekend before making any further release date decisions. If it dips well below double digits (which, given how much they had to boost the opening to get to a $20M number last weekend, is likely), we'll see every tentpole begin to abandon 2020 completely on Monday.