Daniel Loria, the SVP of content strategy and editorial director at Boxoffice Pro, joined Cheddar News to discuss National Cinema Day, MoviePass, and the promotions such as the Labor Day weekend’s $3 ticket day that the theater industry is trying together to bring moviegoers back at pre-pandemic rates. "It's just a good opportunity to say movie theaters are the impetus to leave the house as opposed to a specific movie," he said.


Opening Bell

Theaters Look for Solutions as They Struggle to Bring Back Moviegoers

joining us now is Daniel Loria? S VP of content and strategy and editorial director at box office. Pro daniel, thanks so much for joining us. Let's take a look at the movie theater industry? Many still haven't been back since Covid our theaters back or are they still struggling? I'd say a lot of them have been back. If not most people, if we look at the box opposites that we've seen over the last what, 89 months we've had two of the top six movies of all time of the domestic box office being released, Spiderman, no Way Home and Top Gun Maverick. So audiences have been back. The issue that we have right now is that there haven't been enough movies coming out from studios because of the disruptions to the production pipeline due to Covid to get audiences back as often as they use To come. There is a shortage of movies coming out, the theaters being released by studios and that's why I think this initiative coming out this weekend on Saturday September three where every ticket in over 30,000 screens in the United States is going to be costing $3 in any premium. For me. It's a way that people excited to come out when there aren't that many movies coming out. It's just a good opportunity to say movie theaters are the impetus to leave the house as opposed to a specific movie. Um you know, I'm glad you brought that up. So is $3 movie day, a good idea to get people in the habit of returning the theaters or do you think this is just going to be a flash in the pan? I think it's a little bit of a mix of both. I'm not sure that a $3 movie ticket for one day is going to completely alter the course of the industry for the way things are going. I think it's an injection of capital and an injection of excitement and an injection of admissions and frequency in a weekend. That has been, that is probably what's going to be slow. We looked at last weekend's box office, there weren't that many movies coming out that got people excited. This is an opportunity at an empty space in the calendar to advertise movie, going to advertise the in the house and to make this a national event. So I wouldn't see this is a lifeline or rescue mission at all. I don't think the industry is there. As I mentioned, we've had two of the top six grossing movies of all time since the pandemic. It's really just a way to make sure that a soft spot in the calendar is a little bit more filled up now is streaming going to limit interest in the theaters for the foreseeable future. We've seen a lot of these movies show up day and date on platforms as well as inside the theaters. I think there's been a limited amount of movies that day and day really over the last couple of months. I think the next big day in the movie that is on the schedule is Halloween ends or a movie from, from universal, but really apart from that every studio that was big on going day and date has stepped away from it. You've seen what Warner brothers have said. Uh, now part of discovery, they're calling stepping away from day and date releases of course correction everybody involved with the day to day position and that Warner brothers A T and T era pretty much has left the company. The HBO max strategy is now very firmly on theatrical First, companies like Disney are still taking some releases day and date on a, on a case by case basis. But by and large I think a lot of Hollywood has realized that the best way to make money in this industry is by by going theatrical first and streaming second, of course there's a difference here talking about the streaming companies, they don't benefit too much from a big theatrical release. I think the streaming company is going to continue going streaming first and prioritizing their own subscriptions over ticket sales. Now let's talk about one story that I'm really obsessed with and that's the resurrection of movie past. I've already signed up for the wait list or we can even talk about subscription based services that are similar. I'm an Alamo Drafthouse a season pass holder. So are these going to help people get back to the theaters. So you've got both. I think that's, that's great. Uh, sometimes I like in these a little bit to gym memberships right where you have people that have 2-3 gym memberships and you have people that have one that don't use it at all. Uh, prescription. I think it's a great innovation here in the US, it's been around for decades in europe, it's very successful there. It's an opportunity to make sure that your power users, your best patron at the movie theaters is going to be able to come back in a way that the price point works. And we talked a lot about ticket prices, talking about that right now, discount tickets subscription is a way to enjoy as many movies as possible in a theater at a lower ticket price overall. And I think it's a great way for the industry to look at its best users and reward them. I think that's what we're moving towards too. If you look at anything in the world of e commerce loyalty subscription is top of mind and movie theaters don't want to be behind that boat. Now, outside of superhero movies, you pointed this out, there haven't been any major blockbuster events outside of maybe top Gun maverick, which I definitely watch opening weekend. But how big of this, How big of an issue is this for theaters if they aren't getting the product necessary to persuade people to come back to those seats massive. I think that's the biggest problem facing the film industry right now, we know that the model works. We know that cinemas can get people back in seats and that people enjoy going, but it is 100% dependent on the titles being made available to theaters and how many theaters they're being made available to. I look at some of the release patterns by major studios like Disney and I'm not seeing them being released as widely as they used to be. They're going to major cities, they're going to big houses that are making a lot of money, but it's the independent feeders in the smaller towns that still need those big blockbusters, whether they're from superheroes or not and they're having a harder and harder time getting them in their screens. I I would say that's a big, big problem. Whether it's superheroes or not, film availability is going to, I can dictate the future of the cinema industry Now, besides those $3 movies and those subscription plans, what are the other solutions that we're seeing come out of theaters right now to get people back in those seats. You know, it's a hospitality business. And I think like every out of home entertainment destination, they're really looking at ways to advertise going out and leaving the house and that means at least the movie theaters, premium technology, I think it's important to say that the whole technology that we have to watch something on netflix or on amazon prime at home is better than it's ever been, but if you haven't been to the movies in a while, I encourage you to go. So that's just a $3 ticket day. And some of the cranium technology that theaters are installing the number of premium experiences, like laser projection, like immersive seating, um, it's been really through the roof. It's been incredible just to see the advancements in film technology now, seeing it on a regular day, I think it's great. You really need to have that movie paired with that experience to really drive the point home. And the last last time we had that in the film industry was the movie in 2009, released in december, phone nine called avatar from James Cameron. That movie I think showcase the new generation of cinema technology, like nothing had before. And we have that opportunity again, this december at the end of this year with the James Cameron's sequel to avatar coming out. And I think there's a lot of expectations to have audiences see what that technology looks like, what the limits of that cinema technology is. So they can, they can really do a comparison press to what they have at home and and find reasons to discover why the movie theater provides an extremely different experience. So I think those are the main reasons and getting people back showcasing why going out is different to staying at home, even when staying at home has become more and more comfortable? Well, I'll also definitely be checking out avatar for those similar reasons. We can talk about this all day. We're obviously both passionate about this topic, but thanks to Daniel Loria, he's the S VP of content strategy and editorial director at Box Office Pro.