The Big Picture

After more than a century as a key player in media and entertainment, Technicolor has gone through many changes in recent years. Today the company consists of four distinct businesses. Technicolor Creative Studios includes Technicolor Pre-Production, MPC, Mr. X, The Mill and Mikros Animation. Technicolor Connected Home is focused on the designing of broadband gateways and Android set-top boxes, and innovating in IoT, broadband fiber 2.5G and 10G. Technicolor Home Entertainment Services is a leader in the manufacturing and distribution of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and non-packaged media innovations. And Technicolor Trademark Licensing, which manages brand licensing opportunities for consumer electronic trademarks including RCA and Thompson.

At Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, in his annual address to open CinemaCon 2021, John Fithian, president, and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners was cautiously upbeat and simultaneously defiant about the state of the exhibition business. He thanked a long list of organizations for their part in helping movie theatres survive the worst of the COVID-19 crisis and expressed the belief that, while “we have reached the light at the end of a very long tunnel” there is much more work to be done if the cinema business is to thrive. He emphasized what he and everyone who cares about the idea of seeing movies on the big screen believes to be true: “Simultaneous release does not work for anyone. A steady flow of strong movies released with exclusive windows is essential to exhibition’s recovery, and to the profitability of the entire movie ecosystem.”

The feature documentary The Outsider will be distributor Abramorama’s first release to premiere on Facebook as a paid online event. The live ticketed premiere screening is scheduled to begin August 19 at 8:00 pm EDT with a ticket price of $ 3.99. The premiere will be introduced by a special guest and followed by a panel discussion. The Facebook live screening event will be followed by nationwide in-person theatrical engagements beginning on August 20 in tandem with a Watch Now @ Home virtual cinema release.

In a strongly worded statement, the National Association of Theatre Owners defended the practice of exclusive theatrical release windows for exhibitors and used Disney’s latest movie, Black Widow, as its prime example. Here is NATO’s statement in full: “Black Widow’s excellent reviews, positive word of mouth, and strong previews and opening day total ($13.2 million/$39.5 million) led to a surprising 41 percent second day drop, a weaker than expected opening weekend, and a stunning second weekend collapse in theatrical revenues. Why did such a well-made, well-received, highly anticipated movie underperform? Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life.