There's one thing you can say about this year- the box office alone has delivered a 2023 packed with surprise twists and turns. Despite an unpredictable and ever-shifting landscape of strikes, fantastic flops, and unexpected darlings, it's been an overall strong year, and one which suggests the longed-for box office recovery is close at hand. One positive, if unpredicted, development we've seen this year has been the tech behemoths Apple and Amazon fully embracing the power of theatrical release models- and it seems they're happy with the results they're getting. Brandon Blake, our skilled entertainment lawyer with Blake & Wang P.A., unpacks the buzz.







Brandon Blake

A ‘Real Value' Space

A little over 18 months before January 2023 dawned, analysts were determinedly clinging to the day-and-date release model and the value of a strong theatrical release was being underplayed at every turn. The swing back to embracing the power of a great box office start, however, has spoken for itself since. While Netflix, despite its active slate of originals, continues to use only limited theatrical rollouts, 2023 saw both Apple and Amazon jump on the bandwagon with some strong theatrical pushes.

Amazon, of course, has the benefit of the backing of MGM Studios for these pushes. Apple has had to take a more grassroots approach but is now doing business with major filmmakers. Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, and Argylle will all come to the silver screen through Apple distribution partnerships, and each will have several weeks in theatrical release before they are moved to streaming. We've already seen Killers of the Flower Moon cross the $100 million threshold, and it only opened on October 20. Amazon's Air took about $90 million. 

While it's true that profitability won't come for either picture solely off the back of its theatrical takings (thank hefty budgets for that), the ‘buzz', both for publicity and awards, and the marketing has made a definite splash, proving the value of theatrical releases for viewer engagement and acquisition. 

Offsetting the Traditional Pipeline

That's not all we've seen from 2023, either. The shift of previously streaming-only titles to the theatrical market, coupled with releases of some unusual properties (like the Eras tour) in theaters, has helped to offset pressures on more traditional studio pipelines.

While mostly achieved off the back of the dual Barbie and Oppenheimer releases in that quarter, Q3 of this year has seen the Cinemark group not only post record earnings but also takings that beat the coveted 2019 benchmarks for that quarter by 6%. The day-and-date model cannot say the same. It was tested, and, honestly, didn't work, especially now more flexible theatrical windows have become the norm.

Despite the challenges of a difficult year, it's been a positive one overall for the theatrical industry, which had been struggling to regain the footing lost by pandemic shutdowns. While 2024, and especially 2025, releases will remain a little shaky due to the knock-on effects of the unresolved SAG-AFTRA labor unrest, one thing does seem to be certain. Theatrical is back with a vengeance- and that's good news for everyone.