When AMC reopens on August 20 with 15-cent films, it will be one of the theatrical chains to sign up to NATO’s new security guidelines. How many more will agree?
AMP Theaters’ opening plans, announced August 13, include more detailed security measures, a slow elaboration, and various promotions for ticket and concession. The element that grabbed the most media attention was the one that appeared in the headline of their press release: “AMC Theaters reopens on August 20 by conducting 100 years of operations with ‘Films in 2020 at 1920 Awards.’
There’s nothing wrong with a marketing tactic, and the stunt may lead some people to learn more about AMC’s overpowering strategy. However, this is the largest exhibitor in the world announcing her return to business after being hit by the ongoing pandemic. By one-day trumpeting 15-cent ticket prices at about 100 locations – allowing audiences to see blockbuster classics like “Ghostbusters,” the same movies that play all-summer drive-ins – it’s being read as a sector dedicated to a existential crisis tackled with a William Castle gimmick.
The irony is that the National Theater Owners Association began internal distribution of a major safety document, the NATO Proposed Health & Safety Guidelines, to its membership. IndieWire reviewed the eight-page document, which we obtained from a non-NATO source, and was prepared in conjunction with UCLA epidemiologist Daniel Z. Uslan and in agreement with the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, and the Occupational Health and Safety Organization.
The report, which is dated August 6, goes above and beyond the hodgepodge of state and local rules governing theaters. They include maintaining masks only with exceptions only for food and drink, denying entry to those who refuse; daily symptom and / or temperature controls for employees; disinfecting auditoriums between screens; increased screening times, to prevent crowds; and publish the rules via signs, social media, and on-screen announcements. However, NATO has no power to enforce it.
“Tenet”
Warner Bros.
A letter from NATO to exhibitors indicated that they were looking for signatories to volunteer their support for upcoming public and government communications. Current signatories include the 19 chains representing members of the NATO Executive Council and Operational Task Force, including AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and Alamo Drafthouse. Publishing those who sign can mean silent criticism for those who do not.
If NATO can find full compliance with its membership, that would be an extraordinary benefit: It would mean that the sector agrees to oppose a national narrative in which masks are political and science is debatable. Just days before AMC launches again, and less than three weeks before the onset of “Tenet”, all stakeholders will have to work overtime to deliver that message to an audience whipsawed by a federally confused pandemic response, ever-shifting release dates, and their own exhaustion in confronting an inverted world.
A theatrical audience reflects the audience. For many, the idea of leaving their homes to sit in a dark room with dozens of other people is a nonstarter. Others may like to go, but venture into mask-following. We’ve seen it many times before, in viral videos documenting changes in public settings, ranging from McDonald’s to Walmart; There is no reason to expect that something similar would not happen in cinemas.
Theaters have to deal with almost impossible circumstances, but further delays for rehearsals are not an option. They have heavy costs, including obligations to landlords; the big chains have feared shareholders. They also have PVOD that makes their neck breathe. Nature despises a vacuum, and streaming is more than happy to fill the film-going gap.
Studios and exhibitors have been fighting more and more battles over theatrical windows for years, and exhibitors were already covered in debt; when AMC broke away from its competitors to create a 17-day window with Universal, it still created a disruptive element.
“Black widow”
Disney / Marvel
Even now will reopen as test and momentum is key. Will “Tenet” meet expectations on September 3, enough to set up the next major release on October 2, “Wonder Woman 1984”, followed by “Black Widow” on November 7 and “No Time To Die” on November 21? What does it look like if you join the CDC warning that this fall could be the “worst ever” for public health? Studios will review, continue with their PVOD alternatives, and bid their time.
Traffic with dealmaking further complicates matters. Many movie rental deals are based on total national gross – that is, the more a movie makes, the higher percentage a studio can collect. If social distance and other COVID circumstances mean that a movie makes $ 100 million instead of $ 200 million gross, what does that do to studio promotion? The fragile operating margins of theaters remain unchanged.
All exhibitors large and small, and NATO, deserve credit for their incomplete battles against multiple crises. Even if proven disastrous again, the model would not stay overnight. There is too much real estate; over-finished, very expensive films that need a kiss for theater revenue; too many exhibitors each facing their own unique, complex circumstances; and too many people who appreciate that theaters are close at hand. Like so many in our COVID world, a return to normalcy may be too much to ask.
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