Boxoffice Podcast

On today’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast hosts Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins go over Tuesday’s events at CinemaCon 2022. The day began with NATO’s John Fithian pronouncing the end of simultaneous releases as a serious business model during his State of the Industry address. Fithian cited overwhelming piracy concerns as the reason for its demise—at least when it comes to major titles on the release schedule. The hosts break down that statement in relation to the releases showcased during the day’s studio presentations. Neon followed the State of the Industry session with a showcase of three titles, including David Cronenberg’s highly-anticipated return to the body horror genre. Warner Bros. capped off the day with its own presentation, showcasing a number of original titles and its roster of upcoming DC Comics movies. Early footage from The Flash wowed the CinemaCon crowd, while personal appearances from Baz Luhrman and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson kept the event lively.

In our feature segment, Daniel interviews Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble on the value of an exclusive theatrical window. The Cinemark executive speaks on why he believes exclusivity won’t act as a deterrent for cinemas to work with streamers—his circuit already has a working relationship with Netflix—and why cinema’s future will involve a greater variety of programming.

CinemaCon 2022 is underway as hosts Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins recap a full day of panels and presentations from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Daniel and Rebecca go over the morning’s panel sessions from international day, including insights from leading global executives and Dune director Denis Villeneuve. Programming was a major topic during the opening day of CinemaCon, with exhibitors discussing the challenges of engaging with moviegoers beyond studio tentpoles. Shawn joins the conversation to recap Sony’s slate presentation, where the studio unveiled early looks at upcoming titles like Bullet Train, The Woman King, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Today’s feature segment welcomes Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob, recipient of the 2022 NATO Marquee Award. Rebecca interviews the head of Canada’s largest circuit to delve into the chain’s diversified strategy as an entertainment destination for Canadian audiences—and how they’ve overcome the challenges of the pandemic.

On today’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast’s Daily CinemaCon Edition Presented by ICE Theaters, hosts Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins go over their expectations for this year’s event. The trio discusses the movies they hope to see previewed at the studio presentations and the trends they’ll be looking out for at the trade show floor.

Today’s vendor profile segment brings The Boxoffice Company’s Marine Suttle to discuss how ecommerce has shaped the moviegoing experience since audiences returned from the pandemic. And in today’s feature interview, NATO’s John Fithian and MPA’s Charlie Rivkin join Daniel and Rebecca to share their priorities as the cinema industry continues to move forward on the road to recovery.

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria and Rebecca Pahle cover the latest box office numbers with Sonic 2 still exceeding industry expectations while Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is off to a so-so start.

In the feature segment, Daniel and Rebecca talk to Guillaume Thomine Desmazures, ICE Theaters SVP for Sales and Strategy about how the immersive technology has successfully enhanced the moviegoing experience as more and more people don’t mind the pricing difference. They end the episode with a preview CinemaCon 2022 daily podcast schedule happening next week. 

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

Episode Resources:

• ICE Theaters

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 05:41 AMC Theaters buying more locations
• 07:14 New title releases
• 09:05 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opens to $43M
• 10:33 Halfway between niche and moderate title coming out
• 12:43 Movies making it at the top 5
• 18:43 What is ICE Theaters?
• 20:53 ICE Theaters technology in CinemaCon 2022
• 22:37 Introducing the PLF concept to the public
• 25:45 Offer people more than what they had during the pandemic
• 28:03 The perfect balance that brings action on screens
• 32:02 Preview of next week’s daily CinemaCon podcast

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins talk about the Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s box office numbers on its opening weekend, the performance of the the Fantastic Beasts series as part of the Harry Potter franchise, and the wide release of Everything Everywhere All at Once.

In the feature segment, Daniel talks to CEO Luis Olloqui and Sr. National Director Annelise Holyoak of Marketing & Loyalty at Cinépolis USA about the chain’s focus in providing unique and unforgettable viewing and dining experience for all moviegoers.  

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

Episode Resources:

• Cinépolis USA
• Paramount to Screen Top Gun: Maverick at CinemaCon 2022

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 03:13 Top Gun Maverick screening at CINEMACON
• 04:26 Forecast for the latest mega franchise films
• 07:21 The Fantastic Beasts series
• 16:36 Opening weekend numbers for Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• 20:30 Morbius dropped on its second week 
• 23:31 Wide release of Everything Everywhere All at Once
• 28:46 How has the exhibition recovered so far?
• 32:03 Competing in a competitive niche
• 38:24 Currently focused on food and beverage
• 42:34 How has the dine-in cinemas changed since the pandemic?
• 44:34 Events cinemas are great alternatives
• 50:07 Invested in the theater’s new look 

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Russ Fischer, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins discuss the performance of Morbius in its limited screening debut and the expectations for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. 

In the feature segment, Russ, Daniel, and Rebecca bring us to memory as they go back to the first film adaptation of a video game, Super Mario Brothers. They discuss how these adaptations evolved over the years and the kind reception the viewing audience had for each film.  

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:19 Updates on recent mergers and acquisitions
• 04:06 Expectations for Sonic the Hedgehog 2  
• 09:44 Box office numbers for Morbius
• 12:15 May 28th, 1993, Super Mario Brothers comes out from Disney
• 25:41 Christmas weekend in 1994, Street Fighter came out
• 31:19 Next is Mortal Kombat  
• 36:44 June 15th, 2001 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider
• 40:49 July 2001 - Final Fantasy
• 41:24 March 15th, 2002 - Resident Evil
• 46:28 July 25th, 2003 - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life
• 51:40 2016’s Warcraft movie
• 55:58 December, 2016 - Assassin’s Creed
• 59:03 Another wave of video game adaptation

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins talk about the latest box office numbers, the 3-hour literary adaptation, Drive My Car’s performance, and predictions for the upcoming release of Morbius.

In the feature segment, we get to listen to Emagine Entertainment CEO Anthony Laverde, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema founder Tim League, and CEO Bob Bagby of the B&B Theaters talk about the constant initiative to push for alternative programming in premium large formats and their takes on the recent M&As.   

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

Episode Resources:

• B&B Theaters
• Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
• Emagine Entertainment

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:40 Drive My Car, a 3-hour literary adaptation from Japan
• 05:36 The missed opportunity for CODA
• 09:45 Finally, Morbius is coming out
• 15:18 Top 5 box office films this week
• 16:42 Everything Everywhere All At Once gets an IMAX screening
• 21:00 Alamo Drafthouse’s premium large format
• 23:38 B&B Theaters exploring premiumization in their circuit
• 27:40 Imagine Entertainment’s alternative programming
• 30:35 Reactions to recent mergers and acquisitions

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and SHawn Robbins talk about Cineworld’s 2021 financial report, AMC’s investment in gold and silver mining, and the latest movie release calendar for 2022.

In the Indie Focus feature this month, Rebecca talks to Esquire’s Gary Goldman and Julianne Reisenfeld about the reeling university students into the theater and how the flexibility of the niche screenings have kept the theater afloat.   

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

Episode Resources:

• Spotlight Cinemas
• Esquire Theatre
• AMC boss admits $27.9M stake in gold and silver mine likely a surprise to investors

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:10 Buying things you didn’t think of buying
• 04:30 AMC Theatres bought 22% of Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation
• 07:18 Cineworld’s 2021 financial reports
• 10:58 Predictions for The Lost City
• 13:42 Jujitsu Kaizen 0 opens to $17.6 million from 2,286 screens
• 17:20 The Batman’s theatrical performance
• 19:25 New films release calendar
• 26:13 Esquire’s history
• 28:27 Special niche screenings
• 30:11 Remaining a part of the Cincinnati community
• 31:40 Demographic of viewers
• 34:56 COVID shutdown was just terrible

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria and Rebecca Pahle talk about the overperformance of the K-Pop group BTS’s live cinema broadcast as well as a quick view of the 2021 global box office numbers and the need for exhibitors to convert occasional moviegoers into regular customers.

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 04:17 BTS Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul: Live Viewing live cinema broadcast
• 09:15 Evolution of optimizing spaces like movie theaters
• 11:45 The 2021 global box office numbers
• 15:59 Turning occasional moviegoers into regular customers
• 19:32 Titles skipping theatrical entry  

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins talk about AMC’s 2021 Q4 earnings call, namely their newest experiments with variable pricing—and whether or not that contributed to the $134M opening weekend of The Batman, which had only the second $100M+ debut of the pandemic. 

Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18 

Episode Resources:

• AMC Introduces Variable Pricing for The Batman, Touts Q4 Per-Patron Revenue Higher than Pre-Pandemic 2019
• Batman: A Box Office History
• AMC Theatres Posts Third-Best Weekend of Past Two Years w/ The Batman Opening

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:11 How Ukraine and Russia’s conflict impact cinemas
• 02:43 AMC’s Q4 2021 earnings call
• 04:51 AMC’s variable pricing scheme
• 08:19 Was there a backlash over AMC’s ticket price increase?
• 12:36 $134M opening weekend for The Batman
• 20:51 The Batman is more of a detective story