Boxoffice Pro Q1 2021

Industry 2020: YEAR IN REVIEW
2
THE RELEASE DATE
SHUFFLE
March
On March 4, MGM/UA’s
James Bond adventure No
Time To Die became the first
title to forgo its release date,
moving its April release to
November. Universal followed
suit days later by announcing
it was delaying the Fast and
Furious sequel F9 by a year
to spring 2021. Those early
shifts in the schedule set the
stage for a wildly unstable
(and unpredictable) release
calendar in 2020. One by one,
every major studio rushed
to clear its second-quarter
theatrical slate, as it became
clear the crisis would extend
into the summer.
July 17 was tentatively set
as the date that would kick
off the summer movie season,
with Christopher Nolan’s
Tenet, followed by Disney’s
live-action Mulan a week later.
Things didn’t go according
to plan. Warner Bros. moved
Tenet to July 31st, then August
12, before finally settling on
a staggered global release
launching on August 26. The
film eventually hit theaters
in the United States on
September 3.
For all the headaches caused
by Tenet’s delay, exhibitors
were grateful the film at least
kept its commitment for a
2020 theatrical release. The
same can’t be said about
Mulan, which was taken off
the release calendar in favor
of a PVOD debut on Disney
Plus. After earning $4.3 billion
at the domestic box office in
2019, Disney pulled all its major
titles from release in 2020.
While most of those films were
rescheduled for 2021, others,
like Pixar’s Soul, were sent
straight to streaming.
An unstable release calendar
has since become a hallmark of
the Covid-19 era, with release
delays and cancellations
occurring well into 2021.
3
THE MOST IMPORTANT
FILM OF 2020: TROLLS:
WORLD TOUR
April
Universal’s decision to move
Trolls: World Tour to streaming
as a PVOD rental instead of
shelving it for theatrical release
received little comment from
exhibitors in the early days
of the pandemic. Several
titles whose runs had been
interrupted by the closures—
including releases from Disney,
Sony, and Universal—had
already premiered on home
entertainment platforms earlier
than usual, an understandable
exception to traditional
exclusivity practices.
Trolls: World Tour wasn’t
expected to be a major
blockbuster in theaters, but
the film was able to seize a
unique moment in the market
just as the United States
entered what was essentially a
national lockdown. The film’s
success became a turning
point for the industry when
NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell
told The Wall Street Journal
Universal planned to replicate
the model’s success with
its theatrical slate moving
forward. The news was an
unpleasant surprise to leading
exhibitors, their circuits closed
indefinitely, leading AMC
Theatres to renounce the
studio and vow not to program
its titles moving forward.
The tensions were smoothed
over by the summer, as
Universal signed deals with
top cinema chains granting
their titles a shorter exclusivity
window in theaters. Universal’s
decision to send Trolls: World
Tour to PVOD would act as a
catalyst to a slew of changes
instituted across the industry
in the months to come.
50 Q1 2021
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