At this point, theater owners have taken so many body blows it’s a wonder they haven’t just collapsed. They’re coming close, though, and with Regal Cinemas shutting down until next year it’s not looking good. For an idea of just how bad things are looking right now, AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron has resorted to quoting wartime Winston Churchill to raise the spirits of theater owners after a disastrous quarter in which $900M was lost…
“In our industry, the gravity of our situation puts us all in almost a warlike position of resolve and determination,” Aron said. “We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.”
Yeah, that’s desperate. But Aron has a reason for feeling that way because another critical blow could be on the way. Deadline reports that consensus among the theatre owner community is that Warner Bros. will delay Wonder Woman 1984 once again. Since that’s basically the only film holding the holiday movie season together, well, you get the idea how much that is going to hurt. Because if that film moves you can expect Free Guy and Death On the Nile to follow. The other major release is this Thanksgiving’s The Croods 2, but Universal will only keep it in theaters for a short time before heading to PVOD.
If there is any good news to come out of this for theater owners, it’s that WB is apparently uninterested in shortening the theatrical release window so Wonder Woman 1984 can quickly arrive on PVOD. Director Patty Jenkins has said repeatedly that they are committed to the theater-going experience so this isn’t much of a surprise.
If WW84 were coming out next month we’d be seeing TV spots for it right now, and so far there’s been nothing. If they don’t start in the next couple of weeks that’s a sure sign it’ll instead open in 2021. Stay tuned.
