Disney CEO Bob Chapek on traditional movie business model: "I'm Not Sure There's Going Back"
Disney CEO Bob Chapek suggested that the company will likely shrink the exclusive period when its films play only in theaters, though he didn’t offer any specifics.
“The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before,” he said of the market shifts during Covid-19, “particularly since now they’ve had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them. So, I’m not sure there’s going back. But we certainly don’t want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run.” Moviegoers, he added, won’t “have much of a tolerance for a title, say, being out of theatrical for months” and “just sort of sitting there, gathering dust” before migrating to streaming or other windows.
Chapek made the comments at a virtual investment conference hosted by Morgan Stanley. It was one of his few appearances outside of an official corporate function since becoming CEO about a year ago.
During that brutal year, of course, Hollywood has contended with an existential crisis in the form of Covid-19. The virus decimated the box office and has left only 45% of North American theaters able to function more than a year into the pandemic. Total domestic box office of $11.4 billion in 2019 won’t likely be equaled until 2022 or 2023, most analysts believe.
For Disney, which controls up to half the market and has released top blockbusters under the Marvel and Star Wars banners, it is not a casual decision about how long to play films in theaters. Chapek noted that a middle path — the “Premier Access” simultaneous deployment of streaming and theaters — would remain a distribution option for the foreseeable future. On Friday, animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon will go out via that method, costing $30 to subscribers to Disney+.
https://deadline.com/2021/03/disney-ceo-bob-chapek-shorter-theatrical-windows-streaming-marvel-star-wars-1234704357/
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In 2019 a friend and I splurged to go to a movie/dinner theater that was playing a special 40th anniversary of Life of Brian. The place is amazing. There are at least 2 levels down via escalator with the second level down being a lounge with lots of chairs, a bar and pool tables. On the lower level is the theater itself--the seats are like chaise lounges and recline a little. They are set up in pairs with a little table in between the two. There were about 40 seats total. See photo below. They bring you a bag of 'free' popcorn and the menu is gourmet food, which was very good. You also get a pillow and little blanket. I thought it would be way too easy to fall asleep if you were in a quiet, slow film. The wait staff was very attentive and you have buttons at the table to summon them when you want to order etc. We had a great time.
It was pretty pricey--3 Angus beef sliders was about $20. I can't remember what the actual tickets cost but I think they were over $25 each. But I guess if you compare it with going out to dinner + a movie it might be about the same. It was fun to do it once and I don't expect to do it again. Maybe if my husband wanted to go just to try it out. (Our normal theater experience was the senior matinee, lol.) I don't know if these luxury places actually sustain themselves long term.
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