Apple & Amazon “Very Pleased” With Theatrical Box Office Results, Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble Says; Streaming And Concert Films Could Soon Give Theaters “More Content Than Ever”
03.11.2023 - 16:51
/ deadline.com
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Apple and Amazon, two behemoths of the tech world but newcomers to the wide-release movie business, are so far “very pleased” with their results.
During a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss third-quarter results, Gamble said Cinemark’s conversations with the two tech firms indicate they remain firmly committed to theatrical releases. “There’s real value they see in this space.” (Netflix, for its part, has pursued more limited theatrical rollouts, although it has experimented with Cinemark and other major exhibitors as well as acquiring theater properties in New York and LA.)
Amazon, which acquired MGM in 2022, plans eight to 12 wide releases a year, Gamble said, with Creed III and Air among its recent titles.
Apple, meanwhile, is “really just getting going,” the CEO said. “They had been operating on a slightly smaller level, and now they’re in business with major filmmakers. They’ve got three huge releases over the next five months, meaning Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon and Argylle. All are reaching theaters through distribution partnerships with major studios, but unlike Coda or past Apple films, the trio will spend several weeks in theaters before streaming on Apple TV+.
Killers of the Flower Moon, which opened on October 20, has taken in about $88 million at the global box office, roughly half of that in the U.S. Air last spring took in roughly $90 million. While those numbers didn’t necessarily pencil out well based solely on theatrical, the splash they both made offers a potent engine for streaming customer acquisition and viewer engagement.
The influx of streaming titles, in fact, plus a likely wave of Taylor Swift-inspired concert movies, could more than