US theaters have suffered with the advent of the pandemic and strike-related supply-chain delays. While the box office has struggled to reclaim its pre-pandemic prominence, Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble has reassured investors that studios will focus on theatrical releases once again.
Box Office Guru Founder and Editor Gitesh Pandya joins Yahoo Finance to give insight into entertainment companies' renewed focus on theatrical releases. He highlights that with the "right content, people are coming out," citing Dune's $82.5 million opening weekend.
Pandya signals that the Oscars are an important "PR bonanza" for the film industry, though most Academy Award entrants will have already been released in theaters.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
JOSH LIPTON: Award season is in full swing with the Oscars happening on Sunday. The box office is still recovering from the pandemic and multiple writer strikes. But Cinemark CEO telling investors this week that studios are focusing on theatrical releases again.
For more on all of this, we're talking to Gitesh Pandya, box office guru, founder and CEO. Gitesh, it's always good to see you.
GITESH PANDYA: Great to be here.
JOSH LIPTON: We were talking off camera, Gitesh. I was interested in when you looked at just overall box office. And I was asking, we're still down pretty meaningfully from pre-pandemic?
GITESH PANDYA: Yeah, we're, down from pre-pandemic times. There's a lot of times in February and March have some big films before 2020, when the box office would do pretty well in the first quarter. And then even the last couple of years during post-pandemic times, you had a couple of big films coming out.
So put it this way. Two years ago, right around now, you had a brand new Batman film opening. And it opened right after Omicron was happening.
And people still came out to over $130 million opening weekend. Now, this last weekend, we had Dune Part 2, $82.5 million. Nothing to sneeze at. More than double what the first dune made.
And so with the right content, people are coming out. One of the problems is that because of the strikes, a lot of the supply line has been delayed. And so we don't have as many films out there and ready to go. Right now in the first half of the year first quarter of the year that we normally do.
So there's a lack of volume in the marketplace right now that will get corrected by the time we reach the second quarter into the summer when you have a lot more films coming out. Normally, you have a big film every week or two. And we haven't had much of that this year. It's been a very poor first quarter. But now, with dune coming out and more sequels, it's starting to get better.
JULIE HYMAN: So we've got the Oscars this weekend. And given that backdrop of the waning box office, the increase of streaming, obviously, also a factor of that. What role does the Oscars now play? What role does the prestige picture now play in the age of streaming?
GITESH PANDYA: Well, certainly, it's a PR bonanza because you get so much attention. The world's media is on the Oscars at least for that one night. Most of these films, the bigger films have already played out. And they've made most of their money anyway.
Oppenheimer, for example, has grossed about $960 million since last July when it first came out. So it's mostly done with its worldwide box office run. Except for Japan. That's a country where they didn't know whether they'd be able to release it there or not.
It's a very sensitive topic over there. But it's opening Japan at the end of this month. So it might be a big Oscar winner when it finally opens.
But still, it's going to do just under $1 billion worldwide. There's not much upside except on the streaming side on video on demand and things like that. You will see some more people who maybe missed Oppenheimer, the first time.
I've seen it on the big screen. I've seen it on the small screen at home. I can see it a third-time.
JOSH LIPTON: Julie hasn't seen it.
JULIE HYMAN: I still haven't seen it.
JOSH LIPTON: What are you waiting for? Come on.
GITESH PANDYA: I don't know what she's waiting for. It's incredible film. But it's going to be the big winner, I believe. I'm predicting it will win Best Picture and also Best Director this weekend.
JOSH LIPTON: Gitesh, we were talking about this. A big issue would seem to me, but correct me, there's just too much good content you can get at home. You're there.
I'm on my couch. You got a drink, your dog, you got the flat screen. It's really-- isn't it just that much harder to get people off the couch?
GITESH PANDYA: Well, that's why the movies have to be engaging. They have to be kick ass movies that you leave the couch for, that you go to the movie theater for. Streaming and the box office can coexist.
It's like the restaurant business. You can eat food at home. You can go out to a restaurant. Both can succeed. But they have to be good.
So with the movies, people have a different threshold now. And so if a movie looks interesting, I do want to see it. I'll wait to see it at home. That's what the studios have to fight against.
And so when they're making a film, and when they're marketing a film, they have to have something that is completely engaging, exciting, that you must see right away on the big screen right now and not wait six weeks, eight weeks later to watch at home. That is the big challenge. And the studios that can solve that are going to be the big winners.
Because, again, in this pandemic time, you have so many reasons for people not to go out to the movies. But you look at Spider-Man, Top Gun, Barbie, some of the movies in the last couple of years. These are among the 10 highest grossing movies of all-time during this post pandemic era.
So people will go out with different challenges. It's just got to be the right thing at the right time.
JULIE HYMAN: And are we getting that? That's the other big question, right? There's been a lot of complaints about. And Bob Iger was asked about this recently, right? The equalization of content.
And that the quality isn't there. Is that going to change? Is that going to get better?
GITESH PANDYA: That's one of the big mistakes over the last couple of years. Quality versus quantity. Too much quantity. Mediocrity doesn't sell anymore.
You can't make a 15 mediocre TV shows. It's better to make three really fantastic well-made shows. On the movie side, the ones that are really well-reviewed, well-liked by the audiences, as well, winning awards, that's what's going to sell.
And so I think if some of the studios focus on really the quality of the product and making it really well and then putting it out into the marketplace, you'll see almost unlimited box office potential worldwide.
