Cinema spending won't return to normal until 2023 warns new analysis

A new report into cinema spending habits has warned that box office levels won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

With cinemas closed and virtually all blockbuster releases postponed to 2021 and beyond, the coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on the global box office, with global grosses in 2020 totalling $12.4 billion, down $30 billion (71%) compared to 2019.

However this new report, by global technology research company Omdia, says films released later this year and next – such as the recently thrice-delayed No Time To Die – will still likely underperform.

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The report – Movie Windows: Adapting for the Future – identifies Cinema Power Users as being ‘key to recovering the lost revenue’, citing their increased spending in other areas of entertainment consumption.

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“They are subscribed to 50% more SVOD services than infrequent goers, rent twice as many new movie releases, [and] purchase three times as many new releases”.

Max Signorelli, senior analyst for media and entertainment at Omdia, commented: “Whilst Cinema closures have effectively halted box office revenues, they have not hampered consumer demand for new content, especially in cases of government mandated lockdowns.

“We are seeing consumers look to all subsequent video options to access premium entertainment with an increasingly appetite that will remain post pandemic.

“As cinema release delays such as James Bond prove however, content producers can reliably bet on people returning to the cinema when able to do so.”

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was the canary in the coal mine for the film industry in 2020. Released in the summer while cinemas struggled to reopen at capacity due to social distancing guidelines, it underperformed at the box office taking $363.1 million at the global box office.

No Time To Die was the latest major release to be pushed back as Hollywood studios scrambled to protect their films from certain box office doom, with cinemas remaining closed in markets around the world.

Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 will now arrive on 8 October 8, the official Bond Twitter account announced. It had been set to be released in April this year following multiple pandemic-enforced delays.

This had a domino effect on the remaining 2021 releases including The King’s Man and A Quiet Place Part II, which also announced new dates this weekend.

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