American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 46

CINEMA IN THE AGE OF COVID

RIGHT: In 1902, Tally's Electric Theatre in Los Angeles
became the first motion picture theater, which
started out charging 10 cents a ticket per customer.
BELOW: Patented in 1897, the Edison Home
Projecting Kinetoscope seen here was introduced in
1912. " Home PK " was a flop, selling fewer than 500
units, and was discontinued in 1914.

becomes a film has its own arc, depending on
who's making it, how they want to exploit it,
where the money's coming from, and so on.
" What we're looking to do is lean into the
theatrical model, make it as robust as we can,
and get as many moviegoers [as possible] into
the theaters with our titles. "

Window Dressing

It's important to note, though, that the " window model, " as we know it, is shattering, at
least in the short term. In response to Covid,
Warner Bros. announced in early December
that its entire 2021 slate will be available on
HBO Max day-and-date with their theatrical release for a month, following the model it set for
Wonder Woman 1984. Prior to that, Universal
struck deals with AMC and Cinemark that allow
the studio to call an audible after three weekends - or 21 days, for the former, and 17 days,
for the latter - as opposed to being beholden
to the traditional 74- to 90-day exclusive theatrical window. That " optionality, " as Orr calls
it, gives Universal the choice to leave a film in
theaters, or offer it concurrently on PVOD.
Unlike Disney Plus, though, NBC/Universal's
new streaming service, Peacock, was not conceived as the studio's PVOD platform. " Peacock
was not built for transactional digital rental, "
explains an NBC/Universal spokesperson. " It's
a premium tier service that is relying right now
on library titles. " It's that " right-now " part that
46 / JANUARY 2021

leaves the future open to speculation.
And for Bock, theatrical windows will
shrink, or disappear altogether. " The problem
with these windows is that they're not structuring them correctly, " he says of the prevailing
contracts between distributors and exhibitors.
" It should be based on box office. It should be
based on a tiered schedule. 'If you're not making this much at the box office, theaters -
sorry, [but] we're going DVOD on Monday.' "
Bock cites Disney Plus as giving the umbrella company the flexibility it needs to be nimble, pointing to Disney's decision to release its
Pixar titles exclusively on its streaming service.
" It shocked everybody, " said Bock. " This is a
Pixar film! That's a minimum of $750 [million]
worldwide at the box office no matter what
they do. That was a huge pivot from the biggest
company making big movies right now.
" They have so much more product than any
other studio right now that maybe they could
play with these different elements. I don't think
their Marvel films will go in this direction. "
Mundorff believes theatrical windows are
more important for specialty films that are
more reliant on festival exposure, reviews and
word-of-mouth. " The specialized films that
a Landmark would play need at least existing
windows - 90-days - in order to survive.
They need Moonlight to go 13, 14, 15 weeks. In
the commercial world, not too many films play
more than four to six weeks. The bulk of the

money is made in week one, and then it's 60
percent less in week two and another 60 percent less in week three. "
Rajski points out that the pandemic has created the time and willingness for consumers to
get out of their comfort zone, which could eventually translate into more adventurous moviegoing down the road. " I think Covid might have
expanded people's appetites for a wider range
of fare, " she says. " I know, just from talking to
people who are not in the film business, that
the consumption of documentaries seems to
have expanded. People [are] poking around a
little bit more. We may even get people to watch
subtitled films again, which is what I hope for. "

Futurecasting

So how will the exhibition landscape play out
five or 10 years from now? Everyone interviewed for this article expressed a belief that
the theater-going experience will come back
once Covid-19 is in our rearview mirror. The
floodgates analogy comes to mind - people
have been cooped up for so long that they're
itching to get out of the house, whether it's for
the movies, live music or sporting events.
Of course, many believe that movies must be
seen on the big screen for optimal effect, and
an audience gives a movie energy. As one veteran publicist put it, you " single-task " - you
are resolutely focused, you turn off your phone,
you don't take kitchen breaks.

American Cinematographer - January 2021

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