We are mere weeks away from the kick-off to the Summer Movie Season…in September. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the box office into chaos with theaters being shut down for the past 5 months and the blockbusters (“Black Widow,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” and “Tenet”) that were supposed to arrive in May, June, and July, respectively, finally coming later this fall. And as the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Well, in the case of movie theaters, not so much, according to a new survey.
Variety is reporting that a survey of over 1,000 people in the United States conducted between August 3 and August 10 shows that the majority would be perfectly fine with watching these blockbusters in the comfort of their own home at the Premium VOD price. Specifically, in the case of “Tenet,” only 16% of people surveyed said they are only interested in watching Christopher Nolan’s film in theaters. “Black Widow” (13%) and “Wonder Woman 1984” (16%) had similar results. The majority of film fans would prefer the theater, however, are happy to watch the film at home at the PVOD price of $20. For “Tenet,” this number is 54%, with “Black Widow” (55%) and “Wonder Woman 1984” (53%), once again following suit.
And perhaps the most interesting number is the percentage of people that have no interest seeing the film in theaters and would rather just have it at home, right now, with 30% of the survey-takers responding this way about “Tenet.”
The survey also takes into consideration longer exclusivity windows versus shorter ones, in the wake of the AMC/Universal deal, but those numbers aren’t nearly as telling as the aforementioned statistics. You see, what we’re all waiting to find out is if people are willing to venture back to movie theaters when health officials and most people with common sense are saying that it’s probably not the best time. Will there be a mad rush to see “Tenet” in September? Warner Bros. sure hopes so. But this survey doesn’t necessarily paint a hopeful picture.
What we can glean from this information is that people are now developing new habits when consuming entertainment. Without movie theaters, film fans adapted and began watching more films at home. Some might have even purchased better equipment to do so. All this to say, theaters have been proven to be dispensable and not the be-all, end-all viewing experience. And once the toothpaste is out of the tube, there’s no going back. So, instead of seeing a resurgence with “Tenet” debuting, we could just see the beginning of “the new normal” for exhibitors.