AMC Announces Major Upgrades in Wake of Box Office Success

It’s always good to see positive news from the theatrical industry. While the 2024 box office may not have been everything we anticipated, it has still shown marked success and at least delivers the hope of a real recovery in this sector. With AMC announcing major upgrades to its projection capabilities and seating and auditoriums, it seems they’re hopeful for a brighter outlook. Our local entertainment attorney Los Angeles, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A., details their plans further.

Brandon Blake

The GO Plan

Ambitiously titled the “Go On Offense,” or GO, plan, CEO Adam Aron laid out the plans for this new initiative during AMC’s quarterly investor call. It was generally a positive call for AMC, which saw AMC beat Wall Street projections despite swinging from last year’s $0.08c profit per share to an adjusted loss per share of $0.04c in this Q3. Their total revenue remained relatively stable at $1.35B, partially bolstered by the success of films like Deadpool & Wolverine.

This GO plan is hefty, projected to run into the multi-millions. It is intended to improve the consumer experience and make AMC theaters more attractive, attract shareholder returns, and help separate AMC from its competitors. However, financial specifics were not divulged. 

Global Rollout

Interestingly, this upcoming overhaul will focus on more than just the domestic market. While renovation efforts will start in the US, they will also be carried forward into Odeon’s international markets.

They have already begun upgrades on some of their highest-grossing locations (think Burbank and NYC’s Empire Theater and Lincoln Square), encompassing laser projection, upgrading seating and legroom, and introducing expanded screen sizes in a new AMC XL auditorium format that emulates IMAX offerings to some extent.

While we still lack some concrete timeframes, AMC anticipates a four—to seven-year rollout for the upgrade program now that some of their key debt repayments have been restructured. It will be intriguing to watch this unfold over the coming years.

Japanese Content is Gaining Traction with Viewers

As TIFFCOM, or the Tokyo International Film Festival’s key market, wraps up for another year, one interesting thing has become apparent. Japan is having something of a “cultural moment” right now, with several highly-lauded films boosting market interest in content from Japan. However, this does show considerable variance by market and area. Our industry expert, entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake from Blake & Wang P.A., gives us some insight into this growing interest.

Brandon Blake

No Longer Just Anime

While Japan has become somewhat synonymous with anime in the public imagination, and anime series and content remain a strong driver of the country’s content output, the interest in Japanese content goes much deeper, with live-action offerings also gaining traction. Shogun, in particular, has attracted critical acclaim and boosted interest in Japanese period dramas. 11 Rebels, the festival opener, also sold well.

However, there’s a logistical snag as well. Most Japanese companies face slow consultation cycles with relevant production committees, meaning we rarely see contracts and deals at the festivals themselves. This does make Japanese content partnerships trickier than similar deals from other markets.

A Destination, Not Just a Producer

While Shogun has piqued interest in live-action Japanese content across many markets, a subtler change is underway, too. Tokyo Vice, a Max series, has driven considerable interest in location shoots and co-productions for the area. More so than interest in Japanese originals, in fact. The location space has opened up considerably in recent years, so seeing more collaborative efforts out of the Japanese part of the broader Asia-Pacific market could be an interesting twist for those looking for new locations to use.

Overall, there’s a rising interest globally in content from outside of “Western” territories, and these sorts of collaborative partnerships inevitably follow. With Japanese content having its own “moment in the sun,” we could see considerably more partnerships and collaborative efforts arise out of Japan, too, and that would create an interesting impact on existing content networks.

Venom Flunks, but Indies Boost the Box Office

While Venom: The Last Dance hasn’t entirely mined the depths of poor performance that Joker: Folie à Deux sank to at the box office, it still hasn’t turned in the anticipated performance we hoped for. Still, this weekend’s box office news is far from bad, as several smaller titles turned in an excellent performance in their class. Entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake, our insider from Blake & Wang P.A, has the good and the bad to share.

Brandon Blake

Venom: A Sketchy Performance

This hasn’t really been the year for blockbusters at the box office- at least, not the ones we anticipated doing well! The final film in the Sony Venom trilogy managed around $175M globally and $51M domestically. While that’s nothing to complain about, and it was the bulk of the weekend’s North American box office takings, it was a dull performance compared to what tracking suggested for the movie.

Strong Specialty Titles

Offsetting that lackluster performance, however, we have two stunning performances from specialty titles to enjoy. Focus Features’ Conclave kicked off to a strong debut, while Neon’s Anora has an excellent expansion, and A24’s We Live in Time also enjoyed a successful widening of its total screens. While the 3 films only contributed about $14M to the box office total between them, these were exceptional results for the size and scale of the films. After all, Anora only played in 34 locations!

While it is understandable, after what can only be described as a flop from Joker: Folie à Deux, that many hopes for a theatrical resurgence were pinned on Venom, the film has still managed to take almost as much as Joker’s full run to date in its initial weekend, and at least its performance was solid, falling only $20M short of its predicted opening. 

The film is also performing fantastically overseas and should make a profit. Plus, it’s always great to see special releases perform well, even if they don’t deliver the most impressive numbers. To date, the 2024 box office is tracking at 12% less than 2023, which, while still problematic, is considerably better than we believed possible at the start of the year- and that’s worth celebrating, too.

Another AI Offering Enters the Short Film Space

AI's tech success story of the past few years will bring another exciting project to market. Earlier this week, Blumhouse and Meta announced a short film-focused AI partnership through its Meta Movie Gen suite. Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A. shares all the details of this new development.

Brandon Blake

Building on the Meta Movie Gen Release

Last month, Meta announced the development of its own AI video-focused tech suite, Meta Movie Gen. With the new partnership with Blumhouse, they will now use the suite to bring a series of three short films to life. These releases form part of a wider pilot program being run by Meta, seeking input from the creative community about their text-prompt video creation toolkit.

Meta Movie Gen is not yet available for public release and will not be until next year. According to Connor Hayes, Meta’s VP of GenAI, Meta intends to have “an open and early dialogue with the creative community about how it can be the most useful tool for creativity and ensure its responsible use. “

Reassuring the Creative Community

Jason Blum was quick, however, to emphasize the importance of artists in the GenAI production cycle, remarking that “it’s important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they’re best suited for the job.” Ironically, the first short film to be released is titled i h8 ai, with the others due for release this week. 

Meta is reasonably late in entering the Hollywood space with its AI products. We’ve already seen several other GenAI companies courting the entertainment industry for its video-based AI products this year, with even Adobe entering the market with the Firefly Video Model. Runway’s generative AI video tools have attracted the most attention, even inking a deal with Lionsgate to train a proprietary GenAI model on its existing content library. 

As AI's evolution continues to intersect with the entertainment industry, it will be fascinating to see what further developments arise and, ultimately, how they impact the industry as a whole.

Apple and Amazon Team Up for New Bundle Deal

Bundling and shared content may well be becoming streaming’s new normal. We’ve seen several bundle deals hit the market this year, including many cross-streamer team-ups to spread and diversify subscriber access to their content libraries and add extra value to reduce streaming churn. Now, Apple and Amazon are set to team up in a new deal that will bring Apple TV+ content to Prime Video. Our Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer, Brandon Blake, has the news.

Brandon Blake

Add-On Subscription

Apple TV+ will now be available as an add-on subscription within the Prime Video app, priced at $9.99 monthly. It will join Paramount+, Max, AMC+, and Starz, all of which also offer content through Prime Video services. While users will have full access to the services, they will watch the content within the Prime Video app rather than through separate apps. The deal is set to launch later in November.

One-Stop Access

As we’ve seen in both these “subscription add-on” offerings and full bundled deals, offering subscribers more variety within the same overarching ecosystem can be a useful tool to reduce streaming churn and boost subscriber retention. While Apple hasn’t received the constant media attention of services like Netflix, they have slowly and steadily been making a mark on the wider streaming landscape and as a movie-making powerhouse, including some notable awards attention. However, they remain one of the smaller streaming services, at least among major players.

Sometimes, scale matters. Prime Video, on the other hand, offers a massive subscription base. However, it’s never been entirely clear how many of those subscribers are true Amazon viewers rather than simply taking advantage of the shipping discount. With the new deal, users will have a “one-stop” option to expand their viewing hassle-free, with the same familiar navigation and a one-click subscription option.

It’s easy to see why Apple TV+ would welcome the deal. In turn, Amazon gets another value-add option to help keep subscribers engaged with their services and increase their influence in the market. As bundling and add-ons become the go-to strategy of choice for many streamers to extend their influence, we’re sure to see even more such deals arise in the future, too.

Saturday Night Delivers Remarkable Opening for Specialty Box Office

This year, we’ve spent a lot of time contemplating the top performers and new records across the wide release theatrical market. However, today, we have a great new milestone for the specialty box office to share, too, with one of the best releases of the current year still fresh on-screen. Our entertainment attorney on the ground, Blake & Wang P.A.’s Brandon Blake, shares the good news.

Brandon Blake

Best Limited Opening in Months

In addition to delivering one of the best limited openings we’ve seen in months, Saturday Night has also made the top two such releases for the whole year. Debuting at $265K, a chunky $53K per screen, this is the best specialty release we’ve seen since June, when Kinds of Kindness, also on a 5-screen release, managed an impressive $75K per screen.

The film expanded further last weekend, with a wide release planned for October 11. Based on strong reviews, great word of mouth, and a solid performance so far, it should have a good theatrical run. The film first premiered at the Telluride and Toronto festivals this year.

A Full Specialty Slate

Saturday Night, which covers the story of the first broadcast of the iconic Saturday Night Live TV show in 1975 with a star-studded cast, has a strong slate to support it, too. Indian epic Devara Part 1 opened at 1,040 theaters, bringing in $5.12M to take the Number 4 slot this weekend.

Amazon MGM’s My Old Ass took $2.2M over 1,390 locations for a current cume of $2.5M. This film also received significant critical acclaim on the festival circuit this year. Meanwhile, from Roadside Attractions, Lee will also be opening this week, anticipated to take home about $723K across 854 screens.

It’s always great to see a strong performance from the specialty side of the theatrical distribution industry. Here’s to many more as the year closes out.

Netflix Goes Nordic In A Big Way

While the somewhat frantic push into new territories has slowed a little for the streaming industry, non-English language content is still a critical part of the overall streaming growth strategy. As always, Netflix continues to dominate the competition, free of the thorny balance sheet problems that have dogged many of its competitors. Recently, Netflix has unveiled its upcoming Nordic slate of productions, spanning everything from films to documentaries and reality programming, and it’s certainly an ambitious one. Our entertainment attorney with Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, has the full details.

Brandon Blake

Committed to Scandinavian Originals

The new slate comprises mainly productions from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and may indeed be the “most diverse and ambitious to date,” as their VP of Nordic Content claims. More than a dozen new properties will be hitting Nordic screens across an exceptionally diverse number of niches. This includes three new titles that were previously unannounced and one returning from a long hiatus. 

In addition to the expected fiction content, there is also a considerable number of nonfiction and reality formats to be offered. The most notable are Making it In Marabella, an unscripted real estate series giving viewers a peek into the lives of the rich and famous, and a spin-off reality series (Love is Blind: Sweden) based on the blind dating format.

Nordic Film Slate

The announced lineup also includes films, most notably Troll 2, the upcoming sequel to what became Netflix’s most-watched non-English-language film last year. 

As a globally focused streamer, Netflix has made considerable investments in its Scandinavian arm, a geographic territory many of its competitors have been slower to embrace. HBO Max, in fact, shuttered its original Scandinavian production arm, while others like Viaplay have been cutting back on investment in the territory. Will the gamble pay off for them? So far, it seems to be working as a revenue-driving strategy for them.