Earlier this week, we saw Sony pull most of its big 2020 films from this summer and push them until spring 2021. This news comes on the heels of Disney, Marvel Studios, Universal, and Warner Bros. doing the same, with films like “Black Widow,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” and others vacating their prime summer dates. That begs the question, will 2020 be a year without a summer movie season?
Depending on who you talk to, the answer is wildly different. And no, not even the most optimistic people aren’t 100% sure.
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Let’s start with the good news, shall we? According to a new interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” with AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron (via Deadline), the theater chain executive is hopeful that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic will be put behind us in time to enjoy some summer movies at the multiplex.
“The summer has always been one of the biggest movie seasons of the year, the summer and Christmas,” he said. “I would love to think that America will be enjoying summer movie season again.”
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“I’ve been reading for years about a perception that there was going to be a switch towards home entertainment,” Aron added. “I think if we learned anything in the last two weeks is people just so want to get out of their houses. I think we’re all feeling cooped up and want to get out and have life return to normal, but that’s not going to happen in the next few days, the next few weeks.”
On the other side of the coin, you have a Variety article featuring an interview with Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. While the AMC CEO seems to be hopeful, if not optimistic, Bock is ready to write the summer movie season obituary.
“When Sony pulled the plug on their films, that signaled the end of any hope of a summer movie season,” said Bock. “If magically a vaccine comes out in June, then maybe that won’t be the case, but I don’t really expect that to happen.”
Logically, it’s easy to follow Bock’s train of thought. Even if there is a magical vaccine (there isn’t), with studios already delaying their prime summer films, including many with already-announced new dates, even if everything gets back to normal by June, it’s unlikely that there will be enough major films to warrant a summer movie season.
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The only major summer 2020 films to still hold onto their places in the schedule are Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” and Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” And let’s be honest, Nolan and Tom Cruise are legends when it comes to box office, but not even their combined efforts can save an entire film industry for a three-month period.
So, if we were betting, it sounds as if it’s time to write off the summer movie season for 2020 and begin to look forward to fall/winter. Hopefully, we’ll have a brighter outlook by then.
