In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Russ Fischer, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins talk about their predictions for Black Widow’s debut, Quentin Tarantino’s purchase of Los Angeles’ historic Vista Theatre, and movies to look forward to from the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
In the main segment, mK2 Cinemas co-owners Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz discuss the success of the recently concluded Cinéma Paradiso Louvre festival and the concept behind their hotel/cinema Hotel Paradiso, as well are sharing their opinions on the premiumization of cinema and cultural differences between French and American moviegoers.
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Shawn Robbins on Predictions for Black Widow:
Worst case scenario, it looks like this will still be able to out-open F9, even with [Black Widow‘s] PVOD strategy in mind. It could go higher. That’s really going to come down to the walk-up sales. Marvel movies have a very strong presale corridor, so it’s not really surprising that it’s very far ahead of F9 at the same point. But it’s ahead by such a margin that there’s a point where momentum just takes over. Especially with the marketing push that they’re giving us and with the strong reviews so far, and the fact that this is the first Marvel movie in two years, I think that’s going to translate into maybe bringing back some people who haven’t come back to the movies yet.
Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz on the Premiumization of the Cinema Experience:
We honestly don’t like the idea of premiumization. We think our job is about movies. We’re not restaurants with a screen. We’re cinema distributors. So, yes, we need to reinvent the way we’re welcoming people… but the idea that premiumization is a solution, we just really don’t like the idea. For a historical reason: Moviegoing is the cheapest way of getting out. It has to be a popular experience. So we’re more likely to prefer the idea of keeping prices low, with great experience, but not changing our model into another industry. We’re not restaurant owners. We’re pushing people to love cinema, not just going out. So we think it’s a short-term vision of the moviegoing experience.
Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz on the Differences Between the U.S. and French Cultures of Moviegoing:
What is sometimes difficult to understand. looking from the U.S., is that France has have a different relationship to the movies. First, it’s not just entertainment, is culture….We have a strong local market. French movies are really strong, between 35 and 40 percent market share. And also, especially at mK2, the market share of the other movies–when I say “other,” it’s not from the U.S. and not from France—is one of the highest in the world. It’s between 10 and 15 percent. So [tradition of] seeing movies from all over the world is anchored in our cultural life and relationship to cinema, and especially at mK2 the relationship and to our audience.
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