MCU's THE ETERNALS (11/6/20) 8 8

[Bosco685]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:42 PM, Axelrod said:

omg, yes.  Yes it was.

That is neither here nor there.  The trailers I've seen for Eternals give me cause for concern that it will be stupid.  But Marvel has earned my coin by delivering consistent entertainment over an extended period of time.  Even the "bad" ones are entertaining (to me).  Like, I'm going to see it.  The RT score has 0 bearing on this.    

I caught your comment there. And do agree if anyone blows off a movie due to RT you may miss out on many good to great films.

[Bosco685]

 

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 12:08 PM, drotto said:

The honest assessment  of the MCU is that it is going to limp along, more or less successful,  but far from it's previous heights. People do like Wanda, Loki, the Gardians characters, and Dr Strange.  They do not have the fanbase of the top three (let's be honest, Iron Man). The true resurgence is going to depend on the FF and most importantly how the X-Men are handled.  Those characters are needed for a second coming.

 

All this stuff is just a place holder, and if it were not for those characters waiting in the wings, the MCU would just fade away over the next 5 years.

Your honest prediction, you mean.

An actual assessment of Phase Four of the MCU beginning with WandaVision shows the MCU is as popular as ever. All of the live action Disney+ shows were #1 in TV ratings. WandaVision was a global and internet phenomenon. Shang-Chi is among the highest grossing theatrical films of the pandemic not counting for China and, one can argue, is the savior of the movie theater industry.

As long as Marvel keeps telling us interesting stories, people will show up and show out for the MCU with or without RDJ, Chris Evans, or ScarJo. They're practically forgotten at this point.

[paperheart]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:35 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

Your honest prediction, you mean.

An actual assessment of Phase Four of the MCU beginning with WandaVision shows the MCU is as popular as ever. All of the live action Disney+ shows were #1 in TV ratings. WandaVision was a global and internet phenomenon. Shang-Chi is among the highest grossing theatrical films of the pandemic not counting for China and, one can argue, is the savior of the movie theater industry.

As long as Marvel keeps telling us interesting stories, people will show up and show out for the MCU with or without RDJ, Chris Evans, or ScarJo. They're practically forgotten at this point.

[Gatsby77]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:35 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

Your honest prediction, you mean.

An actual assessment of Phase Four of the MCU beginning with WandaVision shows the MCU is as popular as ever. All of the live action Disney+ shows were #1 in TV ratings. WandaVision was a global and internet phenomenon. Shang-Chi is among the highest grossing theatrical films of the pandemic not counting for China and, one can argue, is the savior of the movie theater industry.

As long as Marvel keeps telling us interesting stories, people will show up and show out for the MCU with or without RDJ, Chris Evans, or ScarJo. They're practically forgotten at this point.

Holy F---kn S--t.

Whoever your drug dealer is must be a very rich man.

[Gatsby77]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:35 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

Your honest prediction, you mean.

An actual assessment of Phase Four of the MCU beginning with WandaVision shows the MCU is as popular as ever. All of the live action Disney+ shows were #1 in TV ratings. WandaVision was a global and internet phenomenon. Shang-Chi is among the highest grossing theatrical films of the pandemic not counting for China and, one can argue, is the savior of the movie theater industry.

As long as Marvel keeps telling us interesting stories, people will show up and show out for the MCU with or without RDJ, Chris Evans, or ScarJo. They're practically forgotten at this point.

Please - argue the point in bold.

Because I humbly present this counter-point:

Fast & Furious 9 - released months before Shang-Chi, grossed theatrically 60%+ more than Shang-Chi.

Ditto - at the same time, A Quiet Place 2 managed close to $200 million in revenue on a comparatively miniscule budget.

 By any objective metric, these two films - for different reasons, but released within weeks of each other - "saved the movie industry" far more than a mid-line Marvel release that's already fading from cultural memory.

How many kids do you think we'll see dressed as Shang-Chi this Halloween?

Vs. how many kids do you think we'll see in Squid Game costumes? 

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 11:41 AM, Bosco685 said:

It is pretty much a scientific fact your opinions are drastically subjective than objective, including if someone didn't care for Captain Marvel and/or Brie Larson's performance they must be haters and toxic.

What a way to form a close-minded view on what may or may not have worked.

Yes, 100,000 toxic trolls review bombing Captain Marvel's RT score a month before the film's release was just a bunch of honest-to-goodness fans who didn't care for Brie Larson's performance or the movie's story before they saw the movie. Alt-right troll Jack Posobiec creating and promoting the Alita Challenge, asking the legion of trolls to skip Captain Marvel's opening weekend and see Alita instead, was just an honest-to-goodness well meaning move expressing the desire for a better product with cancel culture.

Survey says [XXX].

While the hate train isn't nearly as bad as it was leading up to and in the wake of the Captain Marvel movie, I still see toxic hate for the good Captain and some of these same people freely admitting that the hate stems from Brie's extracurricular social activism and anti-woke culture that's spread through our country like a cancer as pop culture has become more accepting of diversity.

 

[paperheart]

On 10/18/2021 at 7:53 AM, paperheart said:

world premiere LA 10/18, Rome film festival 10/24

wild guesses: Metacritic 80 (MCU 2nd best) or 55 (MCU 2nd worst)

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eternals 

Edited October 28, 2021 by paperheart

[Bosco685]

On 10/28/2021 at 5:05 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

Yes, 100,000 toxic trolls review bombing Captain Marvel's RT score a month before the film's release was just a bunch of honest-to-goodness fans who didn't care for Brie Larson's performance or the movie's story before they saw the movie. Alt-right troll Jack Posobiec creating and promoting the Alita Challenge, asking the legion of trolls to skip Captain Marvel's opening weekend and see Alita instead, was just an honest-to-goodness well meaning move expressing the desire for a better product with cancel culture.

Survey says [XXX].

While the hate train isn't nearly as bad as it was leading up to and in the wake of the Captain Marvel movie, I still see toxic hate for the good Captain and some of these same people freely admitting that the hate stems from Brie's extracurricular social activism and anti-woke culture that's spread through our country like a cancer as pop culture has become more accepting of diversity.

 

Uh-huh.

You are so biased in your views even that comment about Shang-Chi being the savior of the movie industry ignores reality. You can argue fake numbers all you like. Reality comes a'calling!

Survey says... hardcore fanatic with thick blinders on to the real world.

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 5:05 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Please - argue the point in bold.

Because I humbly present this counter-point:

Fast & Furious 9 - released months before Shang-Chi, grossed theatrically 60%+ more than Shang-Chi.

Ditto - at the same time, A Quiet Place 2 managed close to $200 million in revenue on a comparatively miniscule budget.

 By any objective metric, these two films - for different reasons, but released within weeks of each other - "saved the movie industry" far more than a mid-line Marvel release that's already fading from cultural memory.

How many kids do you think we'll see dressed as Shang-Chi this Halloween?

Vs. how many kids do you think we'll see in Squid Game costumes? 

First, when I say movie theater industry, I mean the North American movie theater industry, and mostly the U.S. industry, so oversea box office is irrelevant. At the same time, how much more money a single movie made over another during the pandemic isn't what this is about either. It's not about immediate box office receipts. It's about its viability.

The movie theater industry slump was due to several factors, mostly the coronavirus pandemic and public fear. The rise of day and date streaming during the pandemic then introduced another fear that movie theaters might become obsolete, especially after Black Widow's success on Disney+. Movie theater stocks were also mostly down.  

The North American box office success of F9 and Quiet Place 2, while it helped keep theaters afloat, did not solve the factors that were plaguing movie theaters. While those two movies produced attendance spikes upon their release on two of the biggest movie release weekends of the year, Memorial Day weekend and July 4th weekend, they were still isolated spikes that didn't cause the needed chain reaction of continued success at the theaters. They didn't alleviate fears that day and date streaming was still going to make AMC and other theater chains dinosaurs one day. It did little for movie theater stock. Movie theater attendance would drop like a rock in subsequent weekends. Black Widow was an important film that movie theaters had marked on their calendars along with the feeling that America was finally coming out of the pandemic as summer went on. Instead, the situation got worse with Black Widow's Disney+ success as Studio heads began publicly stating the value of day and date streaming. BW's relative failure in subsequent weekends at the box office compounded the drum beat for day and date streaming's viability. Actors and directors protested and/or filed law suits. Theater chain CEO's lamented the day and date streaming plan that studios suddenly found value in. The Delta surge also made headlines in the week following Black Widow's release making people stay home again. It was a mess. Even here in the CGC forums in the month following Black Widow's opening weekend, folks were posting about the impending demise of the movie theater chain. You remember that, right? On the internet, it was the entertainment topic of the moment. 

In the weeks leading to Shang Chi's opening weekend, doom and gloom was the feeling around movie theaters and Shang Chi was predicted by pundits to open between $35-55 million. Even the vaunted MCU they were saying wouldn't be enough to pull theater chains out of their funk. Instead, due to the strength of the MCU and good word of mouth, Shang Chi shattered those muted expectations making $94 million over the usually forgotten Labor Day weekend. In the week following that record breaking weekend, you could see and witness the change. Sony moved up the release date of Venom 2 two weeks to October 1. Disney committed to a theater exclusive release for Eternals and other studios did the same for their upcoming movies. AMC stock went up. Theater chain CEO's tweeted good thoughts. By the time Shang Chi's equally strong second weekend at the box office was over, all the talk of day and date streaming being the future of movies was dead. Shang Chi revived the viability of the movie theater experience. A few weeks later, Venom 2 also beat industry expectations. James Bond did well. Halloween Kills is killing it at the box office. Eternals is currently outpacing Black Widow and Shang Chi in advance movie ticket sales. The domino effect, the avalanche of goodwill surrounding the movie theaters as a safe entertaining needed experience and as a viable economic industry was back. All that started with the unexpected meteoric success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the movie theaters.

If you like, I can also post the twenty or thirty internet and industry articles proclaiming Shang Chi the savior of the movie theater industry.

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by @therealsilvermane

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:58 PM, Gatsby77 said:

As long as Marvel keeps telling us interesting stories, people will show up and show out for the MCU with or without RDJ, Chris Evans, or ScarJo. They're practically forgotten at this point.

I don't recall anybody here, there, or anywhere, lamenting the absence of Tony Stark or Steve Rogers in WandaVision, Loki, Shang-Chi, or even Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In Black Widow, the big positive takeaway from the movie was that Yelena Belova, Natasha's future Widow replacement, stole the show.

If the MCU moves on from those characters, the fans will too.

[Xenosmilus]

I hate to say it but the MCU is starting to feel like Star Wars nowadays... I hope I'm wrong and it doesn't go down that path.

[drotto]

On 10/28/2021 at 6:55 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

First, when I say movie theater industry, I mean the North American movie theater industry, and mostly the U.S. industry, so oversea box office is irrelevant. At the same time, how much more money a single movie made over another during the pandemic isn't what this is about either. It's not about immediate box office receipts. It's about its viability.

The movie theater industry slump was due to several factors, mostly the coronavirus pandemic and public fear. The rise of day and date streaming during the pandemic then introduced another fear that movie theaters might become obsolete, especially after Black Widow's success on Disney+. Movie theater stocks were also mostly down.  

The North American box office success of F9 and Quiet Place 2, while it helped keep theaters afloat, did not solve the factors that were plaguing movie theaters. While those two movies produced attendance spikes upon their release on two of the biggest movie release weekends of the year, Memorial Day weekend and July 4th weekend, they were still isolated spikes that didn't cause the needed chain reaction of continued success at the theaters. They didn't alleviate fears that day and date streaming was still going to make AMC and other theater chains dinosaurs one day. It did little for movie theater stock. Movie theater attendance would drop like a rock in subsequent weekends. Black Widow was an important film that movie theaters had marked on their calendars along with the feeling that America was finally coming out of the pandemic as summer went on. Instead, the situation got worse with Black Widow's Disney+ success as Studio heads began publicly stating the value of day and date streaming. BW's relative failure in subsequent weekends at the box office compounded the drum beat for day and date streaming's viability. Actors and directors protested and/or filed law suits. Theater chain CEO's lamented the day and date streaming plan that studios suddenly found value in. The Delta surge also made headlines in the week following Black Widow's release making people stay home again. It was a mess. Even here in the CGC forums in the month following Black Widow's opening weekend, folks were posting about the impending demise of the movie theater chain. You remember that, right? On the internet, it was the entertainment topic of the moment. 

In the weeks leading to Shang Chi's opening weekend, doom and gloom was the feeling around movie theaters and Shang Chi was predicted by pundits to open between $35-55 million. Even the vaunted MCU they were saying wouldn't be enough to pull theater chains out of their funk. Instead, due to the strength of the MCU and good word of mouth, Shang Chi shattered those muted expectations making $94 million over the usually forgotten Labor Day weekend. In the week following that record breaking weekend, you could see and witness the change. Sony moved up the release date of Venom 2 two weeks to October 1. Disney committed to a theater exclusive release for Eternals and other studios did the same for their upcoming movies. AMC stock went up. Theater chain CEO's tweeted good thoughts. By the time Shang Chi's equally strong second weekend at the box office was over, all the talk of day and date streaming being the future of movies was dead. Shang Chi revived the viability of the movie theater experience. A few weeks later, Venom 2 also beat industry expectations. James Bond did well. That Halloween Kills is killing it at the box office. Eternals is currently outpacing Black Widow and Shang Chi in advance movie ticket sales. The domino effect, the avalanche of goodwill surrounding the movie theaters as a safe entertaining needed experience and as a viable economic industry was back. All that started with the unexpected meteoric success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the movie theaters.

If you like, I can also post the twenty or thirty internet and industry articles proclaiming Shang Chi the savior of the movie theater industry.

 

Wow.  How fast can you keep moving that bar? Shang - Chi meteoric success?! It is the forth lowest grossing Marvel Movie ahead of Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Black Widow world wide. Two of those are not adjusted for inflation.

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary&franchise_movies_overview=od5

 

 

By far your funniest statement is people have completely forgotten the original Avengers already.  

Edited October 28, 2021 by drotto

[@therealsilvermane]

I'll post one article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/10/movie-theaters-needed-hero-marvel-delivered/

Opinion: Movie theaters needed a hero. Marvel delivered.

 

The fate of movie theaters remains very much up in the air, given continued concern over the coronavirus pandemic. But Disney and Marvel’s decision to make “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” exclusive to theaters paid off in a big way this past weekend. The film shattered Labor Day weekend records, demonstrating that folks will still show up if you give them something worth seeing — and take away the option to watch it immediately at home.

That’s good news, and not only for the theaters that have struggled through some 18 months of closures and shifting mandates. It’s proof that American viewers still understand that there is something special about seeing a movie on a big screen — something distributors are also coming to understand in an age of at-home viewing where they can track how people watch movies.

First, the numbers: “Shang-Chi” grossed $75.4 million in U.S. theaters over its first three days and $94.7 million over its first four days. This is more than triple the four-day total of the previous record-holder, Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” reboot. These would be good totals at any time for a movie about an unknown character, even one with the Marvel Cinematic Universe stamp of approval.

But this is not any time. We remain in the midst of a pandemic, one that has seen a resurgence in caution as the delta variant has ripped through states across the country. The pollsters at National Research Group (NRG) have been tracking movie audience comfort since the beginning of the pandemic: Just 19 percent of regular moviegoers said they were very or somewhat comfortable going to theaters in April 2020, a figure that had recovered to 81 percent before the delta wave hit and reduced comfort levels again. As of this weekend, 67 percent reported feeling comfortable heading back.

Theaters are in a tight spot, given that they’re being forced to compete against cost and convenience, best highlighted by Warner Bros.’s decision to send its slate of 2021 films to HBO Max and theaters simultaneously. That’s why AMC Theatres is rolling out a $25 million ad campaign featuring actor Nicole Kidman to tout the benefits of seeing movies in a theater.

But theaters are also being forced to contend with the idea that they aren’t safe. Hence Forbes writer Paul Tassi’s lament: “I Want To Pay Disney $30 To Watch ‘Shang-Chi’ Safe At Home, But I Can’t.”

Never mind the fact that the activity one engages in in a theater (namely, sitting quietly among other people, all of whom are facing the same direction and many of whom are masked the whole time) is not conducive to the spread of the disease, that theaters themselves (because of their high ceilings, recent upgrades to air filters, and the fact that most auditoriums in a multiplex have a dedicated air conditioning unit) are actually quite safe spaces, and that vaccination virtually guarantees you won’t be hospitalized if you do happen to catch it: People remain concerned.

For movie theaters to survive, owners need to do more than convince people that their venues aren’t fetid covid dens. They also need to do what they did in the past and give people something they can’t get elsewhere, week after week.

“For the box office to continue advancing toward pre-pandemic levels, there needs to be a consistent stream of big-event movies across all genres reaching multiplexes,” said Ray Subers, a vice president at NRG. “We are making progress in that direction, though the slate through the end of 2021 is still a bit thinner than in a typical pre-pandemic year.”

There are still blockbuster titles in the offing: “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” got moved up to the beginning of October following the impressive “Shang-Chi” debut, and Marvel has “Eternals” hitting theaters in November. We’ll also have a “Spider-Man” sequel at year’s end. These are currently slated as theatrical exclusives, at least for 45 days. But other big movies such as Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” will have simultaneous releases on streaming platforms. That’s a problem not just for theater owners and not just for the director who loves theaters — but for viewers as well.

Look, here’s the thing: People pay less attention to a movie when they’re watching it at home. This isn’t idle speculation or projection; it’s an annoyance folks in distribution have whispered about and one reason they’ve been a bit stingier with screener links for films playing at festivals.

Studios can track when a viewer pauses and when they rewind via a link. They can track when a movie runs to 100 percent completed, which suggests the person “watching” it watched through the whole credits, which in turn implies the viewer had kind of zoned out and just let the thing run because no one watches through the whole credits.

If you want to see a movie — if you want to say you’ve really seen it as opposed to had it on in the background while you’re tweeting about the vaccine or football or whatever — you need to see it in a movie theater. Maybe you don’t owe it to the artists, and maybe you don’t owe it to the theater owners.

But you do owe it to yourself, assuming you have any love for the medium at all.

[paperheart]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:25 PM, drotto said:

Wow.  How fast can you keep moving that bar? Shange- Chi meteoric success?!

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary&franchise_movies_overview=od5

 

 

By far your funniest statement is people have completely forgotten the original Avengers already.  

$425 million is the new $2.8 billion

[paperheart]

On 10/28/2021 at 3:55 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

First, when I say movie theater industry, I mean the North American movie theater industry, and mostly the U.S. industry, so oversea box office is irrelevant. At the same time, how much more money a single movie made over another during the pandemic isn't what this is about either. It's not about immediate box office receipts. It's about its viability.

The movie theater industry slump was due to several factors, mostly the coronavirus pandemic and public fear. The rise of day and date streaming during the pandemic then introduced another fear that movie theaters might become obsolete, especially after Black Widow's success on Disney+. Movie theater stocks were also mostly down.  

The North American box office success of F9 and Quiet Place 2, while it helped keep theaters afloat, did not solve the factors that were plaguing movie theaters. While those two movies produced attendance spikes upon their release on two of the biggest movie release weekends of the year, Memorial Day weekend and July 4th weekend, they were still isolated spikes that didn't cause the needed chain reaction of continued success at the theaters. They didn't alleviate fears that day and date streaming was still going to make AMC and other theater chains dinosaurs one day. It did little for movie theater stock. Movie theater attendance would drop like a rock in subsequent weekends. Black Widow was an important film that movie theaters had marked on their calendars along with the feeling that America was finally coming out of the pandemic as summer went on. Instead, the situation got worse with Black Widow's Disney+ success as Studio heads began publicly stating the value of day and date streaming. BW's relative failure in subsequent weekends at the box office compounded the drum beat for day and date streaming's viability. Actors and directors protested and/or filed law suits. Theater chain CEO's lamented the day and date streaming plan that studios suddenly found value in. The Delta surge also made headlines in the week following Black Widow's release making people stay home again. It was a mess. Even here in the CGC forums in the month following Black Widow's opening weekend, folks were posting about the impending demise of the movie theater chain. You remember that, right? On the internet, it was the entertainment topic of the moment. 

In the weeks leading to Shang Chi's opening weekend, doom and gloom was the feeling around movie theaters and Shang Chi was predicted by pundits to open between $35-55 million. Even the vaunted MCU they were saying wouldn't be enough to pull theater chains out of their funk. Instead, due to the strength of the MCU and good word of mouth, Shang Chi shattered those muted expectations making $94 million over the usually forgotten Labor Day weekend. In the week following that record breaking weekend, you could see and witness the change. Sony moved up the release date of Venom 2 two weeks to October 1. Disney committed to a theater exclusive release for Eternals and other studios did the same for their upcoming movies. AMC stock went up. Theater chain CEO's tweeted good thoughts. By the time Shang Chi's equally strong second weekend at the box office was over, all the talk of day and date streaming being the future of movies was dead. Shang Chi revived the viability of the movie theater experience. A few weeks later, Venom 2 also beat industry expectations. James Bond did well. Halloween Kills is killing it at the box office. Eternals is currently outpacing Black Widow and Shang Chi in advance movie ticket sales. The domino effect, the avalanche of goodwill surrounding the movie theaters as a safe entertaining needed experience and as a viable economic industry was back. All that started with the unexpected meteoric success of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the movie theaters.

If you like, I can also post the twenty or thirty internet and industry articles proclaiming Shang Chi the savior of the movie theater industry.

 

[drotto]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:28 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

I'll post one article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/10/movie-theaters-needed-hero-marvel-delivered/

Opinion: Movie theaters needed a hero. Marvel delivered.

 

The fate of movie theaters remains very much up in the air, given continued concern over the coronavirus pandemic. But Disney and Marvel’s decision to make “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” exclusive to theaters paid off in a big way this past weekend. The film shattered Labor Day weekend records, demonstrating that folks will still show up if you give them something worth seeing — and take away the option to watch it immediately at home.

That’s good news, and not only for the theaters that have struggled through some 18 months of closures and shifting mandates. It’s proof that American viewers still understand that there is something special about seeing a movie on a big screen — something distributors are also coming to understand in an age of at-home viewing where they can track how people watch movies.

First, the numbers: “Shang-Chi” grossed $75.4 million in U.S. theaters over its first three days and $94.7 million over its first four days. This is more than triple the four-day total of the previous record-holder, Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” reboot. These would be good totals at any time for a movie about an unknown character, even one with the Marvel Cinematic Universe stamp of approval.

But this is not any time. We remain in the midst of a pandemic, one that has seen a resurgence in caution as the delta variant has ripped through states across the country. The pollsters at National Research Group (NRG) have been tracking movie audience comfort since the beginning of the pandemic: Just 19 percent of regular moviegoers said they were very or somewhat comfortable going to theaters in April 2020, a figure that had recovered to 81 percent before the delta wave hit and reduced comfort levels again. As of this weekend, 67 percent reported feeling comfortable heading back.

Theaters are in a tight spot, given that they’re being forced to compete against cost and convenience, best highlighted by Warner Bros.’s decision to send its slate of 2021 films to HBO Max and theaters simultaneously. That’s why AMC Theatres is rolling out a $25 million ad campaign featuring actor Nicole Kidman to tout the benefits of seeing movies in a theater.

But theaters are also being forced to contend with the idea that they aren’t safe. Hence Forbes writer Paul Tassi’s lament: “I Want To Pay Disney $30 To Watch ‘Shang-Chi’ Safe At Home, But I Can’t.”

Never mind the fact that the activity one engages in in a theater (namely, sitting quietly among other people, all of whom are facing the same direction and many of whom are masked the whole time) is not conducive to the spread of the disease, that theaters themselves (because of their high ceilings, recent upgrades to air filters, and the fact that most auditoriums in a multiplex have a dedicated air conditioning unit) are actually quite safe spaces, and that vaccination virtually guarantees you won’t be hospitalized if you do happen to catch it: People remain concerned.

For movie theaters to survive, owners need to do more than convince people that their venues aren’t fetid covid dens. They also need to do what they did in the past and give people something they can’t get elsewhere, week after week.

“For the box office to continue advancing toward pre-pandemic levels, there needs to be a consistent stream of big-event movies across all genres reaching multiplexes,” said Ray Subers, a vice president at NRG. “We are making progress in that direction, though the slate through the end of 2021 is still a bit thinner than in a typical pre-pandemic year.”

There are still blockbuster titles in the offing: “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” got moved up to the beginning of October following the impressive “Shang-Chi” debut, and Marvel has “Eternals” hitting theaters in November. We’ll also have a “Spider-Man” sequel at year’s end. These are currently slated as theatrical exclusives, at least for 45 days. But other big movies such as Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” will have simultaneous releases on streaming platforms. That’s a problem not just for theater owners and not just for the director who loves theaters — but for viewers as well.

Look, here’s the thing: People pay less attention to a movie when they’re watching it at home. This isn’t idle speculation or projection; it’s an annoyance folks in distribution have whispered about and one reason they’ve been a bit stingier with screener links for films playing at festivals.

Studios can track when a viewer pauses and when they rewind via a link. They can track when a movie runs to 100 percent completed, which suggests the person “watching” it watched through the whole credits, which in turn implies the viewer had kind of zoned out and just let the thing run because no one watches through the whole credits.

If you want to see a movie — if you want to say you’ve really seen it as opposed to had it on in the background while you’re tweeting about the vaccine or football or whatever — you need to see it in a movie theater. Maybe you don’t owe it to the artists, and maybe you don’t owe it to the theater owners.

But you do owe it to yourself, assuming you have any love for the medium at all.

So you support your argument with an article that is clearly titled as an Opinion.  Since when are opinions facts?  Oh yeah, current day wacky world, I forgot.

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:34 PM, paperheart said:

From some internet article following Shang Chi's successful second weekend:

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings grossed $35.8 million in its second-weekend follow-up, keeping the film on a record pace even before plans for a release in China (a big market for Marvel).
• That brought its cumulative domestic box office to $145.6 million (the fastest film to a domestic $100 million in 2021), good enough for fourth-best of 2021, passing Jungle Cruise. Worldwide, it's grossed $257.6 million (and again, that doesn't yet count China).
• Between the impressive Shang-Chi follow-up and a boost from Disney's theatrical vote of confidence, key theater stocks are higher today. AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) is +1.2%; Cinemark (NYSE:CNK) +7.7%; IMAX +6.9%; Marcus (NYSE:MCS) +6.6%; Reading International (NASDAQ:RDI) +1.5%; in-theater advertising firm National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) +8.1%.

[@therealsilvermane]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:37 PM, drotto said:

So you support your argument with an article that is clearly titled as an Opinion.  Since when are opinions facts?  Oh yeah, current day wacky world, I forgot.

From Deadline. Less of an opinion. But all media is subjective to one degree or another.

Imax CEO Rich Gelfond Calls ‘Shang-Chi’ Boom “Answer” To Studios’ Day-And-Date Streaming Experiment

According to Imax chief executive Rich Gelfond, the box office power of Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings should lay to rest the question of moviegoers’ willingness to return to theaters.

“The studios said, ‘This is an experiment.’ I think there is an answer to the experiment. We release it in the theatrical window and if it’s a good movie people are going to come in pretty good numbers — for Shang-Chi, record numbers,” he said on CNBC in an interview Wednesday.

Shang-Chi’s $94 million-plus four day domestic cume combined with Sony moving Venom: Let There Be Carnage up to Oct. 1 from Oct. 15, and MGM/UA holding the Oct. 8 release date of the next James Bond No Time To Die are great news for the industry.

[drotto]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:38 PM, @therealsilvermane said:

From some internet article following Shang Chi's successful second weekend:

• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings grossed $35.8 million in its second-weekend follow-up, keeping the film on a record pace even before plans for a release in China (a big market for Marvel).
• That brought its cumulative domestic box office to $145.6 million (the fastest film to a domestic $100 million in 2021), good enough for fourth-best of 2021, passing Jungle Cruise. Worldwide, it's grossed $257.6 million (and again, that doesn't yet count China).
• Between the impressive Shang-Chi follow-up and a boost from Disney's theatrical vote of confidence, key theater stocks are higher today. AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) is +1.2%; Cinemark (NYSE:CNK) +7.7%; IMAX +6.9%; Marcus (NYSE:MCS) +6.6%; Reading International (NASDAQ:RDI) +1.5%; in-theater advertising firm National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) +8.1%.

$425 million WW is awful for an MCU film, anyone trying to say otherwise is reaching.  Yes, most of this is likely related to Covid, but even poor MCU movies were doing $600 to $700 million without blinking just 3 years ago.