Very special mission for James Bond: save the cinema!
Audio 04:06
Daniel Craig, at the world premiere of the new James Bond "Die Can Wait", in London, September 28, 2021. © REUTERS - TOBY MELVILLE
By: Dominique Baillard Follow
3 min
The latest James Bond is finally arriving on French screens, 18 months behind schedule.
Because of the coronavirus.
Agent 007 arrives with an additional mission: save movie theaters.
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Global cinema receipts collapsed in 2020, dropping to $ 12 billion, almost four times less than 2019, a record year for the industry.
This year we are going up the slope with 20 billion expected revenue.
Despite the end of confinement, spectators are in no hurry to return to the dark rooms.
Some still fear the virus, and many have strengthened their new consumption habits, increasingly turned towards streaming.
This is why the score of Daniel Craig, who for the last time embodies the most famous British spy in the world, is expected as the messiah by the film industry.
How can James Bond save cinema?
James Bond is a safe bet, in nearly 60 years of existence, the saga has generated $ 7 billion in revenue. Unlike other big productions aimed at very targeted audiences, the tribulations of this international seducer are appreciated by all generations, in all latitudes. It is therefore likely to attract entire families to the cinema. An audience who will replenish the coffers and who will perhaps want to come back by discovering the trailers of the other films to come. UK poll shows more than one in two men, exactly 51%, will return to the cinema for the first time to see
No Time To Die
,
Die Can Wait
.
A priori it works rather well: the film is a hit across the Channel where it was released last weekend.
It has already achieved a figure of 125 million dollars in the 54 countries where it is broadcast, an all-time high for the first days of a James Bond.
The upcoming release on the American market and then in China at the end of October should cause attendance to explode.
Theaters need James Bond to bounce back, does James Bond need theaters?
Absoutely. Streaming would not be enough to amortize an estimated budget of $ 300 million. Producers are hoping for billions of dollars in theatrical receipts, Skyfall is the only James Bond who has surpassed this symbolic bar. By filling theaters, blockbusters give the industry the means to invest in other genres. Without them many films would not see the light of day and theaters would be doomed to disappear. The cinema industry ecosystem is challenged by platforms, Netflix, Disney and others, but it remains anchored in theaters. Moreover, Amazon, which bought MGM, the studio that produces the James Bonds, has undertaken to respect a first release in the cinema. For the moment there is no question of modifying the chronology.
James Bond is also a good deal for other sectors of the economy.
For luxury or tech brands willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to benefit from this global showcase.
Omega watches, Bollinger champagne and of course the Aston Martin are among the essential accessories of Agent 007. The passage in a film which will be multi-screened for years, even decades, ensures an almost eternal notoriety, much better than any advertising campaign.
IN SHORT
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This judgment should serve as a warning in companies believes a lawyer specializing in civil rights.
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Following these revelations, this much maligned tool was definitely buried.
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