Spiderman’s Missed Opportunity

Spiderman’s Missed Opportunity

So, thanks to shouts from our Hollywood Breaks audience, I finally hunkered down and saw all three Tom Holland Spiderman movies, including the most recent, No Way Home. Admittedly, I was a little behind the eight-ball, but it was great to be back in a theater. As I was sitting in the mostly empty theater, I realized how much I love coming to theaters and movies in general. The lights dimming down, the screen widening, and the first green card for a trailer popping up were all things I forgot made the experience so enjoyable. Not only that, but the movie was rather good as well. I have to admit it was pretty cool seeing Holland, Maguire, and Garfield all in one film. Kudos to the filmmakers (and business affairs execs) for being able to pull that off. BUT, I couldn't help thinking there was a missed opportunity here: for both theaters and the industry at large.

No Way Home has thus far brought in a little over $700 million domestically and over $1.6 BILLION (!!!) worldwide. It is undoubtedly a phenomenal success. Yet, where is everyone? Where are the film exes, not just Tom Rothman, shouting how great this is for the business? Where are the "movie stars' and not just Tom Holland, screaming how great it is to have movies being a part of the cultural conversation again? This film (released only in theaters with no corporate streaming partner) will most likely become one of the highest-grossing movies, if not the highest. There is not a peep from anyone talking about the importance of movies or the theatrical experience. Yes, you had your glad-handing and back-slapping, which is typical for a successful release, but no one thought maybe, just maybe, this might be a way to talk up movies and theaters. Since the pandemic began, the prevailing narrative has been that people have become comfortable sitting at home and want day/date releases. Yes, that is essentially where the winds are heading, but Spiderman provided an opportunity to flip the script. Personally, the film was a stark reminder of what is so great about movies and going to the movies. An experience that cannot be captured sitting on your couch with your remote in hand.

Now, for those naysayers who claim theaters and movies are on the road to extinction, and the future is all metaverse and streaming, some signs indicate that is not necessarily the case. Here is City Journal's Bruno Maçães with this phenomenal piece on the metaverse and how it may not be all it's cracked up to be. Maçães writes:

"The metaverse is like a drug—one so powerful as to break our connection with the world around us...Humanity is now at a fork in the road: in one direction lies the exploration of outer space; the other leads inward toward virtual reality, the 'dead-end of entertainment."

We, humans, are hard-wired to be engaged across all our senses, and the meta-verse isn't going to be able to provide that stimulation. Movies still can, particularly in a theatrical experience. And if anyone would try to innovate the experience who knows what the future holds. 

There's also the never-ending worry about the loss of the younger audience, which is still a threat. However, just this week, an article in Entrepreneur magazine stated that one of the best ways for marketers to reach Millenials was not through texting or email but greeting cards. In fact, they spend more on greeting cards than any other generation. Now, this is not to say that it'd be easy to get them back to theaters, but it does suggest that they are open to sticking to more traditional forms of consumption if pointed in the right direction. That is the opportunity the industry missed with No Way Home and why the lack of leadership continues to spiral into an outright crisis. 

Scream more Miss than Hit

Scream opened to $33 million this past weekend (press reports pegged it at $35, but those were just estimates), and as expected, the loud hosannas came forth that this was a HIT for Paramount. To some extent, it was. Scream 4, released in 2011, made $38 million in its TOTAL domestic run finishing off at $97 million globally. In that sense, this is a victory for Paramount in that they kind of rebooted a franchise. Press reports have also raved that the modest budget of $25 million makes it an even bigger hit because the movie might be profitable (GASP!) However, if we look at a comparable horror movie, Halloween Kills, it made $49 million in its opening weekend, AND it was day/date on Peacock. If you want to argue that isn't a fair comparison because it was part 2 in an already rebooted franchise, Halloween, released in 2019, opened to $76 million. Yes, pre-pandemic, but that flick arguably had a steeper hill to climb given how the franchise had been left for dead. 

I realize that everyone in the industry wants to proclaim every movie that does a decent open is a hit, especially during COVID. Still, for most of the country, COVID is over. People are going to movies, bars, and restaurants. Despite reports of overwhelmed hospitals and screeching from the media, a vast majority of the populace has returned to normal. As such, the barometers of what merits a hit must as well, and Scream is more miss than hit by the normal standard. 

Pages from The Commonplace Book

On January 14, 1766, William Pitt, the "Great Commoner" and the minister most responsible for Great Britain's success in winning the Seven Years War (aka The French and Indian War,) gave a speech in Parliament in opposition to the Stamp Act, basically the Act that started the brouhaha that led to the American Revolution. He proclaimed that the Brits had no right to take money from the colonists. Still, in a blatant contradiction, he claimed Britain did have the right "to bind, to restrain American" and that its "legislative power over the colonies is sovereign and supreme." Yeah, no confusion there.   

William Hicks, a colonist, pointed out this blatant inconsistency in a series of essays originally published in the Pennsylvania Journal early in 1768. This week's quote comes from those essays:

"...no people can ever continue long in the exercise of liberty unless they maintain the resolution to think for themselves."

Yet another quote that is unquestionably timeless. Not just for the obvious reasons, but for our industry as a whole. How different would it be if everyone was able to think for themselves? A great thought to ponder.

This Week on Hollywood Breaks

This week, Tim and I kick off our killer 2022 guest list with Sean Haran, Chief Business Officer of Gearbox Software. We'll be chatting updates on the Borderlands feature adaptation, Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision, and much more. Don't miss it.

See you next week! 

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