The block booking is almost certainly informal - an independent theater will likely judge that if they want a hard to get film next month they better take a less desirable film from same studio this month. This is less draconian than the demands under the old rules to be sure, but still evidence the big studios can big foot their way around exhibitors.
But I think formal restrictions on length of engagement are common, and getting more so, and more severe. With concentration of blockbuster power in Disney this is likely to get even worse. Studios are also driving harder and harder bargains on the split. Here is a relatively favorable piece about this from Forbes a year and a half ago (there are tougher versions): “On their face, Walt Disney’s demands on theaters concerning next month’s domestic exhibition of Star Wars: The Last Jedi are not that unusual. As reported by The Wall Street Journal <https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-lays-down-the-law-for-theaters-on-star-wars-the-last-jedi-1509528603>, cinemas accepting the Rian Johnson sequel when it opens on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. will have to give Disney about 65% of the overall ticket sales and promise to keep the film in its biggest theater(s) for at least four weeks. That compares with 64% of ticket revenue and two weeks of “your best theater” exclusivity” for The Force Awakens two years ago. And unlike previous Star Wars films, this one comes with a penalty (an additional 5%) if theaters get caught breaking any conditions.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/11/02/star-wars-the-last-jedi-why-disney-is-pressuring-u-s-theaters/ As I recall, our local proprietor was talking specifically about this situation with The Last Jedi, and added that in the past with films like this studios would be flexible with small rural single screen exhibitors, but that Disney was playing hard ball with that and other blockbuster offerings. Aside from the larger economic issues, locally this hurts us. That theater is a community treasure and resource. There are multiplexes 30 miles away to the south and to the west, and we patronize them as needed. But most film fans here try to see as many films as we can locally, and they do a great job bringing in a diverse menu; blockbusters yes, but also Oscar favorites, art house flicks, films with local appeal and kids films. She can’t survive without booking blockbusters in at least the first week or two of release, but she also won’t make much net profit if she has to book them for a month, and book a hack film she otherwise would pass on, plus her community mission of curating diverse offerings is undermined. On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 2:42 AM JW <[email protected]> wrote: > > It is interesting to note that studios with blockbusters can still apply > a > > lot of muscle towards the same end as the old monopoly, maybe not > shoving a > > bunch of B- films down exhibitors throats, but forcing longer engagements > > and (maybe informally, I’m not sure about that) bullying them to also > book > > lesser films. The owner of our local single screen independent theater > has > > talked about this a little. > > It's been a long time since I kept up with this kind of stuff, but my > recollection is that block booking of any sort is illegal, so any pressure > on your local theater to take other films has to be informal. I don't think > there are any restrictions on length of engagement. > > At this point, running an independent single-screen theater must be > interesting. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
