Movie theaters have begun to open gradually after being shuttered due to the pandemic and studios like Warner Bros. have taken a gamble on expensive films like TENET by releasing them into a marketplace where not all of the significant box office markets are open (i.e. Los Angeles and New York). Even though some studios are taking the risk, Sony Pictures is saying they will not release their expensive films in theaters until the pandemic is over or at least until things get back to being close to normal.
The news comes directly from Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Tony Vinciquerra who was recently a guest at Bank of America's 2020 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. During the conference, Vinciquerra addressed the notion of releasing blockbusters in the current marketplace, since theaters have been reopening in the U.S. and throughout much of the world. Based on his words, if things aren't normal by the time films like MORBIUS, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE or GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE are set to hit screens, expect more delays in the future:
"What we won't do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie out in the market unless we're sure that theaters are open and operating at significant capacity."
While theaters are reopening there are quite a few stipulations in place while the pandemic is very much active. For one, most theaters are operating at a significantly reduced capacity, in most cases at about 25 percent. This is supposed to increase in the months ahead but the pandemic is so unpredictable that it's really hard to say in they'll stick to that plan. Also, while TENET pulled in a decent $20.2 million in this current climate, it's a far cry from the numbers it could be pulling in. Sony Pictures has a lineup of expensive tentpoles on the way and some of them were pushed off the summer calendar into 2021 to ensure that theaters would be in a place to safely house them. With only a few months left in the year, things don't seem like they're going 100 percent back to normal soon and Sony is aware that these new dates are even tentative and that distribution will change, even as things go back to normal:
"You'll see a lot of strange things happen over the next six months in how films are released, how they're scheduled, how they're marketed, but once we get back to normal, we will have learned a lot I think and found ways to do things that are somewhat different and hopefully better."
A part of me likes that Sony Pictures is being transparent. I feel like some of the other studios are trying to be cautiously naive seeing how things go as release dates draw closer. I actually like knowing a studio won't risk releasing a $200 million tentpole film into the marketplace so I don't get my hopes up that it just MIGHT happen.
Do YOU think Sony Pictures is right to not release their expensive films into theaters until things go back to normal in the marketplace?