A common theme at CinemaCon over the years has been the need for distributors and exhibitors to collaborate more closely and the notion rose to the fore in a CinemaCon session dedicated to mid-budget films on Monday.
Focus Features president of distribution Lisa Bunnell and her counterpart at Neon, Elissa Federoff, argued that films like The Holdovers, Anatomy Of A Fall, and Immaculate need room to breathe and open on a smaller footprint and build word of mouth before expanding wider when a broader audience is ready to watch them.
“We need to be patient with these movies and understand that for every film there’s a different threshold for what success is,” said Bunnell, whose The Holdovers grossed $20m in North America and $44.3m worldwide.
The panel ‘Strength In The Middle: Working Together To Boost Mid-Budget Films’ also heard from Rebecca Stein, VP of marketing and partnerships at National Amusements. “We need to see this stuff sooner,” she said. “I get excited when I see things at CinemaCon and not at a trade screening 10 days before release… Together we could do more.”
“This is not a problem at all,” retorted Bunnell, who earlier in the panel told Brock Bagby, president, chief content, programming and development officer at B&B Theatres, that if a film was performing well in his theatres and there was demand, she could consult her bosses about the possibility of extending the theatrical run before it went to PVoD.
Federoff told moderator and NATO president and CEO Michael O’Leary: ”The quantity of content is not what these audiences want; they want quality… We need to get everybody behind it in the same way. “
She continued, “Immaculate is a great example of that: it was made for under $10m with Sydney Sweeney, who is a huge star and is a producer. She bet on herself.” The film (pictured) opened in fourth place on March 20 in North America and stands at $14.1m, and $18.5m worldwide.
Bunnell echoed her sentiments, noting that part of the battle of making lower budget films was getting talent to agree to work for lower fees.
The Neon executive added, “Metrics aren’t the same for a specialty company as they are at a studio.”
The panellists also talked about the value of loyalty programmes. Stein said National Amusements has seen its programme grow with the 18-34 audience and changed the rewards from points to cash back, adding “it’s made a huge difference”.
She said a considerable portion of the company’s marketing spend goes into reaching influencers, who help reach a younger audience.
Bunnell noted, “I like to look at TikTok as a way to educate younger people in going to the movies, because they’re the future.”
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