IN THE SPOTLIGHT
After building confidence in moviegoing over the summer, delta has sapped some of Hollywood’s momentum. The National Research Group had recorded more than 80% of moviegoers were comfortable going to theaters in July. But that number dipped to 67% last month.
Yet summer’s last big movie, Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” gave the fall a major lift with an estimated $90 million in ticket sales over the four-day Labor Day weekend — one of the best performances of the pandemic. Notably, it was only playing in theaters.
Even before all the numbers were in, Sony moved up the release of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” the sequel to its $856 million superhero hit, by two weeks to Oct. 1. It kicks off Sony’s slate including Jason Reitman’s “Ghostbusters:
Afterlife” (Nov. 19), Denzel Washington’s “A Journal for Jordan” (Dec. 10) and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Dec. 17).
No studio is betting quite as big on movie theaters this fall as Sony. The studio lacks a major streaming platform but has signed lucrative pacts with Netflix and Disney to stream films after theatrical release. Discussing the disappointing results of day-and-date movies like Warner Bros.’ “The Suicide Squad” versus a theater-first hit like Disney’s “Free Guy.”
That debate — what movies open where and when — is sure to remain unsettled in the coming months, and probably well beyond. Warner Bros. has pledged to return to exclusive theatrical releases, for 45 days, next year. But little this fall — including the movie calendar — is a sure thing.