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A Renewed Call for Longer Exclusivity Windows
Box office is down year-over-year in North America, leaving domestic exhibitors wondering how select overseas markets have successfully navigated the challenges of a weak Q1 studio slate. Local titles play a huge role in this conversation, but it’s not the only reason North American theaters lag behind their global counterparts.
During an executive roundtable session at CinemaCon, Cinépolis CEO Alejandro Ramirez Magaña credited longer exclusivity windows as one of the catalysts for a quicker recovery in select overseas territories. Magaña cited exclusivity windows of an average of 75 days in Europe and 60 days in Latin America, while U.S. theaters had to contend with an average window of 30 days. The Cinepolis executive’s parting words in the panel sounded more like a rallying cry than an observation: a proposal for a consistent global exclusivity window of a minimum of 45 days.
While Ramirez Magaña’s call for a standard global exclusivity window was met with applause by exhibitors at CinemaCon, it remains to be seen if the pitch can pick up traction among the studios. At least one of the majors seems to be behind the idea, even if it stopped short of explicitly endorsing a uniform 45-day window across the globe. Sony executives dedicated a surprising amount of time defending the need for more robust windows in their studio presentation.
“One in three North American customers think they can get a theatrical movie at home in less than a month, and that the SVOD availability will follow shortly thereafter,” said Adam Bergerman, president of Sony Pictures Releasing, on stage during the studio’s slate presentation. “Such widespread belief depresses opening weekend on all types of movies; undermining the programmatic reason we go to the theater…it is critical for overall box office growth that we change the audience’s perception that all theatrical movies are quickly available at home.”
A Shorter Pre-Show…with Longer Trailers?
Another big talking point from Monday morning’s executive roundtable addressed the pre-show length. Concerns about the increasing length of cinema advertising blocks were raised, but the most intriguing aspect of the discussion came with Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution’s suggestion of revisiting the standard trailer length. While European markets tend to have shorter trailers ahead of the feature (60 to 90 seconds according to the panelists), Goldstein introduced the possibility of experimenting with longer-format trailers for select titles as part of a shorter, but more impactful pre-show. Longer trailers would effectively cut down the current average of 4 to 5 trailers programmed before a feature, but could serve to better market films to a captive cinema audience. The idea is currently in the “suggestion” phase, but it’ll be interesting to see if exhibitors embrace the notion of long-format trailers moving forward.
Highlights From Sony’s Slate Presentation
Sony had the honor of kicking off the studio presentations at CinemaCon 2025. By the night’s end, they had the entire audience buzzing about their ambitious plans for the years ahead.
Sony offered little at their 2024 presentation, instead using their time at the Caesars Palace Colosseum stage to promote the scheduled anime titles of its Crunchyroll division. While anime titles did receive their share of attention in their 2025 presentation, the focus of the evening was on a variety of projects scheduled to hit theaters through 2028.
Most intriguing of all came with the presence of director Sam Mendes, who officially announced he is working with the studio to deliver four separate titles around legendary rock band The Beatles, each film focusing on a different band member. Mendes introduced his cast, who were met on stage with resounding excitement from the audience: Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
Announcing the films and their cast would have been enough of a headline to keep the trades busy for a month, but the biggest surprise of the week came with the announcement that all four films of The Beatles saga would be released in April 2028. “We are going to dominate the culture that month,” stated Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group. Mendes cited a prior conversation with Rothman describing the project as “the first bingeable theatrical experience.”
Should Sony stick to the plan and release all four films in the same month, it would represent the boldest and most high-stakes exercise in film programming of our current era. What would have been a quartet of all-but-guaranteed hits released a year apart is now a bet that relies on an audience’s willingness to have one studio, through a series of interconnected titles, dominate a month (or more) of the release schedule. The full ramifications of this release strategy won’t come into focus until we get closer to that April 2028 finish line. Until then, it will be exciting to think about ahead of the films’ release.
Sony also provided an important update to its live-action and animated Spider-Man projects. Beyond the Spider-Verse unveiled a new release date (June 4, 2027), while Tom Holland updated the audience on the new title for his next appearance as the webslinger, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, scheduled for July 31, 2026.
The studio’s summer slate received significant attention during the presentation. New footage from Karate Kid: Legends (May 30) was unveiled at CinemaCon, and a first look at the second trailer of Danny Boyle’s upcoming 28 Years Later (June 20). Both titles will be available in HDR by Barco at participating theaters.
Original titles made for adult audiences are always a pleasant surprise at CinemaCon presentations, and Sony delivered early looks at two upcoming titles that fit the bill. Darren Aronofsky and Kogonada are established names in the specialty world, making their presence at CinemaCon that much more refreshing. Aronofsky introduced footage from his upcoming Caught Stealing (August 28), starring Austin Butler, while Kogonada shared a look at A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (September 19). Finally, on the anime side, Sony announced a U.S. release date for the highly anticipated Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, which is set to reach American audiences on October 29 of this year.
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