2024-03-15 07:15:35
The stars of the film industry congratulated each other on last year’s achievements at Monday’s Oscars, which was dominated by the film Oppenheimer. This year’s outlook for Hollywood is grimmer. As a result of the writers’ and actors’ strike that crippled the industry for several months, fewer potential blockbusters are hitting theaters than usual.
Experts are already warning that the distribution plans for April lack a comparable commercial attraction, such as last year’s Super Mario Bros. in the movie. It grossed 1.3 billion dollars worldwide, which translates to about 31.5 billion crowns.
In the summer, the situation should improve, when Czech cinemas will release the sequel to the animated story In the Head from the Pixar studio on June 13 and the big-budget action Deadpool & Wolverine on July 25, which is the third part of the trilogy about the scarred anti-hero with superhuman powers Deadpool from the Marvel comics world . Towards the end of the year before Christmas, the offer will be more modest again.
“I think 2024 will be the worst of the last three years in terms of global numbers,” estimates Tim Richards, director of the European cinema chain Vue, which operates in Great Britain, Poland and Germany.
His words are also confirmed by the current figures from the USA and Canada, i.e. the largest film market in the world. So far this year, cinemas there have earned 9.8 percent less year-on-year, Comscore calculated. According to estimates by analyst firm B. Riley Securities, the movie market in the U.S. and Canada will shrink to $8.5 billion this year, which would represent a five percent drop from 2023.
For example, the head of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, has already publicly declared that his company will once again emphasize quality over quantity. This year, he will release roughly a dozen films.
This year’s Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel and Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company. | Photo: Reuters
Disney-owned Marvel Studios used to send at least two or three titles to theaters a year. They are planning only one for this year, namely Deadpool & Wolverine.
Universal Pictures, whose owner is the multinational conglomerate Comcast, plans to present about a dozen projects in 2024. Commercially, they are promising the most from the fourth part of the family saga I, the villain, the three parts of which have so far taken almost 2.6 billion dollars worldwide, equivalent to about 59 billion crowns.
A hit can still be added to the distribution plans, which will improve the overall situation, for example before Christmas – some studio could announce such a picture at the April meeting of pop culture fans CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
“But right now, I think this year we’re mainly going to catch up with last year,” says Shawn Robbins, an analyst at Boxofficepro.com. According to him, it will take time for the industry to approach pre-pandemic values again, led by the record year 2018, when the film market grew to 11.9 billion dollars.
But not everyone shares the same opinion. “I think the prognosticators see it too negatively,” says Richard Gelfond, director of the IMAX company that operates large-scale cinemas. “When you put the offers for 2023 and 2024 side by side, they look pretty similar to me,” he says.
Joaquin Phoenix will reprise his role as the anti-hero Joker this year. | Photo: Warner Bros.
In addition to the fourth part of the series I, the villain and the third part of Deadpool, the head of IMAX promises a lot from the continuation of the comic film Joker: Folie à Deux, which will be shown in Czech cinemas on October 3, and at the end of the year from the film Čarodějka, which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical about witches from land of oz
According to Tim Richards from the Vue cinema chain, the situation is a little different in the US and Canada, where they are betting mainly on Hollywood, and in Europe, where local production can help cinema operators more than ever this year.
“Some films broke the record in Italy, others did well in Poland, Germany, and even the Netherlands. But of course, this does not compensate for what is missing in Hollywood,” admits Tim Richards.
On the contrary, everyone agrees on an optimistic outlook until 2025, when cinemas will show projects delayed due to last year’s strike by screenwriters and actors. Among them will be four comic novelties from Marvel including Captain America, the second part of Batman with Robert Pattinson in the lead role, another Superman, the third part of the sci-fi saga Avatar or new additions to the series Mission: Impossible, John Wick, Star Wars or Fast and frantically. The current outlook suggests that 2025 should offer an unprecedented number of big-budget titles.
Tim Richards also points out that Apple and Amazon are committed to investing more in feature film production and competing with established studios, which should help the market as a whole.
“The really interesting years 2025 and 2026 are looming ahead of us,” concludes the head of the Vue cinema chain.
Video: Trailer z filmu Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine will be released in Czech cinemas on July 25. | Video: Falcon