Wall Street’s attack on Netflix couldn’t be timed better for exhibitors than right before CinemaCon.
As studios trumpet their upcoming tentpoles — like Tom Cruise in Paramount/Skydance’s TOP GUN: MAVERICK (pictured), which will be screened in full & open 5/27 — exhibs will breathe easier seeing the Street turn against streaming just as it did against exhibition during COVID’s darkest days.
Analysts loved streaming because it was new technology with what they thought was a sky’s-the-limit upside for investors. That was when most movie theatres were shut to “keep the public safe” — although airlines could still pack people in like sardines! The Street figured with cinemas closed, people would get into the streaming habit and not want to return to theatres. But once the pandemic eased, people were eager to start seeing films the best way — in theatres with friends & hot buttered popcorn!
Younger men were the first to come back, opening Sony/Marvel’s SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME to $260M last December. Families & adults took longer to return, but they have. Now moviegoers have a strong summer of event films to see — starting with Disney/Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, opening 5/6 and already sizzling on track.
Meanwhile, Netflix just saw $54B of its market capital wiped out because Wall Street has zero-tolerance for being wrong.