Crimefighter that THE BATMAN is, it’s fitting he’s now helping stamp out day & dating.
With Omicron fading across the U.S. and restrictions easing, adults are now back in cinemas. NRG reported this week that 80% of moviegoers are now “very or somewhat comfortable” with being in a theatre. That’s also good news for Madison Avenue, which likes having access to a large captive audience of consumers sitting in the dark waiting for a movie to begin.
What WB/DC’s supersized success with THE BATMAN (pictured) hammers home is that people want to see movies on the big screen with other people — not at home on flat screens with distractions like phones, kids, dogs & doorbells. Hollywood extended its pandemic pain by embracing Wall Street’s passion for day & dating.
2021’s most successful studio was Sony, which happily didn’t have its streaming service to get in the way. Sony/Marvel tentpoles like VENOM: LET THEIR BE CARNAGE ($502M) & SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME ($1.9B) helped exhibitors worldwide survive.
Misguided management moves to put all of WB’s 2021 movies on HBO Max day & date, but smarter strategizing now has given WB titles exclusive 45-day theatrical windows. The exhibition’s all the better for that — and so is WB!