AMC, Aron said, will share in home video on
demand revenues with Universal.
But even with new releases on the calendar
for the remainder of the year, including high-
profile independent and awards contenders
like “ Nomadland ” and Regina King’s “One
Night in Miami,” studios have made it clear that
they are skittish about releasing their most
expensive properties in such a muted North
American box office landscape.
Warner Bros. helped provide an early test
case with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.” The film
has grossed over $307 million globally, but
only $45 million of that has come from North
America, which is the world’s biggest box
office market.
And although there are new films every
weekend, back catalog films are regularly
claiming spots in the top 10. Just this weekend
the 27-year-old “Hocus Pocus” claimed the No.
2 spot and the 40-year-old Star Wars film “The
Empire Strikes Back” landed at No. 6.
Since “Tenet,” many studios have pushed at
least one big film out of 2020, including
“Black Widow,” “No Time to Die” and “West
Side Story.” Other films vacated earlier, like
“Top Gun: Maverick” and “F9.” And some
studios have experimented by pivoting to
video-on-demand releases, like Disney did
with its live-action “Mulan.”
The shifting calendar has a domino effect
on future releases too. When Warner Bros.
moved “Dune” to Oct. 1, 2021, it took “The
Batman” release date, pushing that film to
March 2022.