I’m kind of relieved this week is finally coming to an end because as much as I may appreciate a good Taylor Swift song, and as grateful as I am that she is releasing her concert film theatrically to bolster an anemic release schedule, the pervasive promotion this movie has gotten has been overwhelming for those of us who aren’t card carrying Swifties. The New York Times hailed Swift’s marketing blitz as “a lightning storm of free publicity” in one article, ultimately giving “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” even more… well, free publicity.
The popular American sketch-comedy show “Saturday Night Live” provided the most humorous take on the singer living rent-free in everyone’s heads for the past week during a skit featuring football analysts squaring off on who was the bigger Swift fan, rather than discussing an upcoming game. Spoiler alert: professional football player Travis Kelce, who may or may not be dating Swift, makes an appearance. Double spoiler alert: Swift herself showed up on SNL to introduce the show’s musical guest. Of course she did.
Now that “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” is finally in cinemas we get to play Monday morning quarterback (see what I did there?) over the concert film’s opening weekend box office. Don’t worry, I’m not about to go down the box office rabbit hole. Forecasts had the film debuting domestically at USD $125+ million. Or was that an international figure? The film’s box office was being compared to so many previous concert movies I’ve lost track.
In fact, last week David Hancock, Chief Analyst of Media and Entertainment at Omdia, rightly corrected me when I compared the USD $73 million North American gross of “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” from 2011 to AMC touting presales of Swift’s movie surpassing USD $100 million globally. As Hancock pointed out, the highest grossing concert film of all time is “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” which made USD $250 million worldwide in 2009.
Swift managed to get halfway to topping the King of Pop with the estimated opening weekend gross of “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” coming it at around USD $126 million globally, USD $96 million of which came from North America. This may sound disappointing given all those sky-high early estimates, but let’s put this in perspective; Swift surpassed the USD $31.1 million 2008 domestic opening of “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” by a factor of three to become the biggest opening weekend ever for a concert film. “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” made more in North America this past weekend than Bieber’s film did in its entire run. And this is coming from someone who is loathe to make such comparisons.
At this point, everyone reading this is probably thinking, “Yeah, but can Swift’s film hold?” Historically concert movies make between two and three times their opening weekend gross. “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” bowed at 4,527 cinemas in 94 international territories with a release in Brazil, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan on 3 November. My gut tells me that grosses would likely drop by 50% in the second weekend. My gut also tells me I’d be a fool to bet against Swift. Perhaps, like the pop star herself, “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” could turn into phenomenon that generates repeat viewing.
Michael O’Leary, President and CEO of NATO, underscored the potential of eventizing the movie in his post-opening weekend quote, “The ‘Eras Tour’ debut proves, yet again, that fans are eager to share other experiences in a communal way, with theater owners working creatively to build memorable moments in their cinemas.” Indeed, hoping to turn the film into even more of an event, some cinema operators encouraged swapping friendship bracelets, dancing in the aisles and even the use of cell phones in auditoriums. I’m just going to assume Alamo Drafthouse abstained from that last one, given their stance on cell phones in movie theatres.
One thing is certain, all of the inevitable talk about other artists making concert films and bypassing traditional distributors to release them straight to cinemas is seriously premature. While The Cinema Foundation may have poled 6,000 moviegoers over the weekend to find out 72% of them want to see more concert movies, as I’ve previously stated, Beyoncé may be the only artist who can currently pull off anything close to the success Swift is having. Her own “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” concert movie hits theatres 1 December. Just to show that there was no competition or bad blood between them Beyoncé showed up to the premiere of Swift’s film in Los Angeles on Wednesday so the two could be photographed together.
The premiere was such a big event it closed down the entirety of The Grove where it took place, including the Apple Store, Nordstroms and nearby Farmers Market. (By the way, AMC, I’m going to assume my invite got lost in the mail.) There was so much coverage of the premiere that news of a blackmail scheme involving explicit photos and AMC’s own CEO Adam Aron, who attended the premiere, hardly registered at all. (Side note: Kudos to Aron for informing the AMC board and taking the David Letterman route of turning the matter over to law enforcement.)
Also barely overshadowed by Swift coverage last Wednesday was news that the actors’ strike is far from being over. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers called off any further negotiations with SAG-AFTRA saying both sides were too far apart. Technically, that’s the more important story from the past week that we should be discussing here. Let’s hope it doesn’t take the AMPTP a month to sit back down with the actors the way it did when they pulled a similar stunt with the writers guild.
For those of you who can’t get enough of Taylor Swift, be sure to check out the last CJ Cinema Summit in which exhibitors, analysts and Dolby talked about preparing for her concert film. This upcoming week the summit will be focused on independent distribution and art house films with a great panel of industry experts. Hope to see you there.
Marketing & Promotions
Pearl & Dean Secures Brand New Partnerships
Pearl & Dean, one of the leading cinema advertising companies in the United Kingdom, has been busy playing matchmaker lately, arranging partnerships between brands that ultimately help build awareness of upcoming movie releases. To promote the theatrical opening of the comedy “Sumotherhood,” Pearl & Dean brokered a unique deal between itself, distributor Paramount Pictures UK and drink brand XIX Vodka to create exclusive content and access to talent with the idea of making the advertising culturally relevant to film aficionados.
The partnership sees Pearl & Dean working with Paramount to elevate its existing brand partnership with XIX Vodka and in return promote the film. The deal provides exclusive screening rights at Pearl & Dean cinemas, access for Paramount to the bespoke magazine-style ad-funded show, Pearl & Dean Premieres, and allows XIX Vodka to gain a deeper connection to the “Sumotherhood” and its audiences.
Separately, Pearl & Dean, through its experience agency DIVE announced brand new cinema partnership with KP Snacks and its popchips snack brand. The initiative brings together an outdoor cinema partnership with Adventure Cinema, branded content creation, and a national cinema campaign. Adventure Cinema audiences are being treated to popchips samples ahead of screenings, putting a more joyful spin on the traditional ‘be quiet, the movie is starting’ messaging. The customized content features a QR code-enabled competition to win a pair of tickets to a special preview screening for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” Adventure Cinema tickets and a year’s supply of popchips.
All of this comes on the hills of the company strengthening its Irish business by installing Damon Westbury as Chief Commercial Officer of Pearl & Dean Ireland.
Source: Celluloid Junkide
Organizations
NATO Names Todd Halstead To Newly Created Indie Exhibitor Role
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) plans to buttress its support of independent cinema operators through a newly created position; Director of Independent Exhibitor Engagement. Todd Halstead, NATO’s Director of Government Relations and Strategy Development since 2021, has been named to the role, which will be added to his current portfolio of responsibilities for the organization.
In his expanded role, Halstead will work closely with the with NATO’s Independent Theatre Owners Coalition (ITOC), chaired by Colleen Barstow of Omaha-based ACX Cinemas. Prior to the pandemic small cinema operators routinely expressed their discontent and belief that NATO only fights for the concerns of major theatre chains. Such talk was mostly squelched when NATO helped secure Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOG) from the United States government during COVID-19 closures. With Michael O’Leary taking over as President & CEO of NATO earlier this year, this appointment may be trying to signal the organization’s commitment to small theatre owners.
Even so, Halstead, a NATO veteran, has plenty of experience working with indie cinema operators, having previously assisted in the founding of the Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA) as its Executive Diretor from 2019 to 2021. It’s unclear whether the newly created NATO position will overlap with ICA’s ongoing work or if it will be complimentary.
Source: Celluloid Junkie
Cinema Service Providers
Ingresso.com Rebrands and Plans To Grow Even Larger in Brazil
Two years following its acquisition by Universo Online (UOL), Brazil’s largest content and digital services company (think Yahoo), Ingresso.com has unveiled a series of enhancements and solutions aimed at fortifying the Brazilian film industry and increasing the 70% market share of the country’s leading online movie ticketing service. Mauro Gonzalez, Business Director at Ingresso.com, emphasized the company’s commitment to evolving and providing the best possible experience for consumers. “We are the main channel for fans of cinema and we are constantly evolving to provide the best experience to consumers, both in providing tickets for the sessions and in the usability of the website and application, promotions and benefits,” Gonzalez stated.
Working hand in hand with UOL, Ingresso.com recently rebranded as it strategically positions itself as the go-to destination on the internet for cinema enthusiasts in Brazil. It now will be delivering not only tickets but coverage of movie events, articles, and videos, aimed at capturing comprehensive engagement throughout the lifecycle of a film. Gonzalez highlighted, “To facilitate access for readers, the main films showing on Ingresso.com each week can be accessed directly from the UOL home page, which has 12 million unique visitors.”
As well, Ingresso.com continues to bolster its presence in Brazil through marketing campaigns promoting the ease of digital cinema ticket purchases, with nationwide coverage across various media platforms. In addition, subscribers to UOL products, automatically enrolled in Clube UOL, enjoy perks on Ingress.com, such as exemption from service fees and a monthly BRL R$20.00 (USD $4) coupon for ticket purchases through the platform. With its rebranding, the company is looking beyond cinema, with the goal of extending its operations into the events segment, including exclusive partnerships with major events like Rock in Rio and CarnaUOL.
Source: Exibidor
Marketing & Promotions
Sky Cinema Subscribers To Get Two Free Movie Tickets Per Month
Sky TV is partnering with the cinema chain Vue in the United Kingdom to offer customers two free movie tickets every month at no extra cost. The program is available to existing and new customers of Sky Cinema in the UK and Ireland. Sky Cinema is Sky TV’s subscription video-on-demand service that offers over 1,000 movies on-demand.
The promotion has a few limitations; the free cinema tickets can be used from Sunday through Thursday and only for 2D screenings. Sky Cinema customers can find the claim code to use when purchasing tickets for screenings at Vue in the company’s MySky mobile app. The claim code will change on a monthly basis.
We have long championed the idea of SVOD services including movie theatre tickets or cinema access as a part of their subscription plans. MUBI gives its subscribers one free movie ticket per week to a specific film in its MUBI Go program. These kinds of schemes help customers, who are clearly passionate about movies, justify the monthly cost of their streaming subscription services, as Sophia Ahmad, Chief Consumer Officer, Sky UK & Ireland pointed out: “In a time when value is more important to households than ever, Sky Cinema’s exclusive partnership with Vue will give film fans the chance to enjoy the experience of monthly trips to the cinema at no extra cost.”
Source: Sky Group
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