In the two years of the epidemic, the battle between streaming media and traditional theaters is still indistinguishable


　　North American movies are still exploring "mix and match distribution"

　　During the 2020 epidemic, some films in North America chose to be screened online and "betrayed" theaters, triggering a huge conflict between streaming media and theaters.

Now, two years later, the box office output in the North American market has recovered to 60% to 70% of the level of the same period in previous years. Who wins and who loses in the battle between streaming media and traditional theater chains?

According to the latest special research released by the Maoyan Research Institute, as the North American film market warms up, more films choose to return to the theater, but they do not give up streaming media, and the "mix and match release" is still in the groping stage.

　　After the second round of resumption

　　The number of theaters has recovered by nearly 80%

　　According to Maoyan data, at present, box office sales in the North American market have recovered to 60% to 70% of the same period in previous years, and theaters have recovered more than 90%.

Analysts from well-known market research and analysis companies in the United States predict that, driven by a number of blockbusters, this year's summer season in the North American market is expected to be the same as the same period in 2019.

　　Since the epidemic, the North American market has experienced two rounds of resumption of work. The first round of resumption of work was 5 months after the theaters were closed. In August 2020, "Creed" drove the number of theaters to recover to nearly 65% ​​of those before the epidemic, but ticket sales only resumed. 13% in the same period in 2019.

Since then, due to the repeated outbreak of the epidemic and the poor market performance of "Creed", major Hollywood studios have postponed the release time of their films or switched to online distribution. The North American market has fallen into a downturn again, and many theaters have closed again.

The second round of resumption of work will be in May 2021. The theaters in several major ticket-holding cities in North America have resumed business, and the number of theaters has recovered by nearly 80%.

Since then, with the release of many Hollywood blockbusters such as "A Quiet Place 2", "Fast and Furious 9" and "Black Widow", the North American film market has gradually stabilized, and will reach a new level through the release of "Spider-Man: No Home" at the end of 2021. new peak.

　　Mass release

　　and shorten the window period

　　During the severe epidemic in 2020, major Hollywood studios made bold attempts to the online distribution model, which led to a fierce "academy-network battle".

Disney, Warner, Paramount, and Universal have all launched their own streaming platforms.

Among them, Disney moved the North American distribution of "Mulan" directly to the online; then Warner announced that all its blockbusters in 2021 will be released in a synchronized mode of theater and network, that is, the film will be released on the same day as the film's release in North America. Its streaming platform HBO Max; Universal Pictures chose to distribute "Trolls 2" in the form of video-on-demand, and successfully recovered the cost. This "comfortable" gesture angered the world-renowned AMC theater chain, and Universal's works were subject to AMC's resist.

　　Cinemas do have their irreplaceable uniqueness, but with the changes in society and the development of the Internet, streaming media is still taking part of the cheese from traditional cinemas when the time is right. Now two years have passed, online and offline. Will the love and kill between them achieve a delicate balance of common development?

The current state of the North American film market seems to indicate that the "double release" has found a compromise solution - Hollywood has reverted its blockbuster distribution strategy to exclusive theatrical release, but the window period for the film to go online has changed from the usual 90 days before the epidemic. Reduced to 30 to 45 days to support its streaming platforms.

　　In other words, the epidemic has indeed made the influence of streaming media platforms expand rapidly. At present, Hollywood can no longer ignore the supply of streaming media while focusing on traditional theater chains.

Most films in the North American market choose to be released on a large scale to increase the distribution coverage, thereby achieving the goal of shortening the window period and launching as soon as possible.

For example, "Nordic Man", which was released at the same time and had an equally high word-of-mouth rating, chose a large-scale "painting" distribution model and went online three weeks after its release.

　　Beyond the coexistence of the hospital network

　　There is a third option

　　However, this is not the only coexistence mode of the academy network. It is reported that the current dark horse work "All Cosmos" has chosen to maintain a long window period, and even postponed the online release originally scheduled for on-demand on May 17. plan.

The film's strong box office stamina proves that long-term distribution is still feasible in the era of streaming media, and the decision to shorten the window period does not apply to all films.

　　It can be seen that many producers are still making different plans according to each film, choosing to invest part of their production resources on content dedicated to streaming media, and select their "more suitable" works for exclusive streaming media distribution, such as Pixar animation. The movie "The Metamorphosis of Youth".

It is foreseeable that in addition to Netflix, Apple TV+ and other streaming media platforms that already have a large amount of content output, Hollywood studios will produce more exclusive works for their streaming media platforms in the future to attract more subscribers. .

　　Industry insiders believe that the epidemic may accelerate changes in audience viewing habits and tastes, but in the final analysis, it is movies with strong viewing motivation and word-of-mouth protection that can make audiences feel that they are worth the price.

Headline blockbusters with IP foundations, brands, and strong commercial elements can still attract audiences to the cinema.

Text / reporter Xiao Yang

　　Coordinator/Liu Jianghua