Cineplex swings forward with release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but still has long road to recovery
Jaimie Nackan
Spider-Man: No Way Home drew crowds to Cineplex theatres this past December, bringing in record opening weekend numbers of $253 million in the US and Canada just before another COVID-19 shutdown in January. But in the wake of their reopening from the closures, Cineplex still has more recovery ahead of them.
Compared to 2020, audience attendance and box office revenues in 2021 are significantly improved, according to the fourth quarter financial statements. However, with slim attendance from the shutdowns in 2020, the improvement may look exaggerated, said senior investment manager Cole Kachur.
In order to get a clearer picture of the company’s health, Kachur said to focus on the 2019 numbers. While the recent schedule of Christmas films boosted audience attendance, he said, “Without a doubt, they're still tracking below where the 2019 numbers would have been.”
A strong slate of films remains vital to strong box office numbers. Kachur said, “It seems like the sequels and superhero type of movies they're drawing are garnering a lot of interest, while, you know, traditional movie fare, still hasn't really caught on as much.”
Blockbuster films tend to get released in waves, so Cineplex might see some slower patches between hits. But with the current unpredictability of new film releases, it is hard to rely on a strong schedule of movies.
“That's probably the biggest question, a lot of the distribution and production companies continue to delay releases, and a lot of things that were supposed to be out in the summer have now got pushed to the fall, or maybe Christmas season and depending on where we are, from a COVID point of view, during those periods, they could potentially get pushed again,” Kachur said.
Another worry is the prevalence of streaming services. Michael Paris, legal and chief privacy officer at Cineplex, said while they had to close, the major film studios turned to streaming in order to distribute and make money from their films.
“And that's really like one of the worst parts of it,” Paris said. “Not only could we not operate, but our primary competitors had captive audiences for years. That's pretty awful!”
But old habits are hard to break, and the pandemic altered the way people consume movies. Kachur is interested to see how preferences have changed regarding in-home streaming versus theatres.
“For two years or so people, you know, being used to doing things one way, and I don't know that it's going to necessarily turn on a dime,” he said.
These preferences might also be seen among different age groups, said Paris. “Some of the titles that you know, might have skewed towards older audiences or more mature audiences… I think we're seeing them not do as well for the time being. And so, we'll see if those audiences start to come back.”
COVID-19 brought with it the need for flexibility. Even with Spider-Man: No Way Home hitting a record for third biggest debut, it only remained available in theatres for a few short weeks before another shutdown in January. “The last kick in the guts was December when we had Spider-Man,” Paris said about its brief initial time in theatres.
But Paris is optimistic about upcoming releases and drawing audiences back to theatres.
“What we always say in our business is that we set the table, but we don't cook the steak, our business goes as the film's go, and people show up, and people showed up to see Spider Man, and they're showing up to see Batman, we've got lots more, lots of great content coming out.”
