‘Box office gold’: how Tom Holland is helping cinemas recover – Sydney Morning Herald

February 22, 2022 Kate

“We had a solid November with Bond [in No Time To Die], we had a great December with Spider-Man then we had a disappointing January as Omicron bit and some titles didn’t perform well and we had a couple of titles move,” Keogh said. “But February has certainly bounced back in the last week.”

While Uncharted was surprisingly popular given dire reviews, its success suggests Holland has become a genuine star.

The director of entertainment for Event cinemas, Luke Mackey, said the action comedy was given every opportunity to draw an audience over the holidays. “The trailer ran with every session of Spider-Man,” he said.

The next test for cinemas is the release of the Robert Pattinson superhero movie The Batman next week.

Mackey said the hope was that, as COVID restrictions eased, ticket sales would stay buoyant into the Easter holidays with The Batman followed by the Jared Leto superhero movie Morbius, the sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (both out on March 31) then the J. K. Rowling sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (April 7).

Benji Tamir, program manager for the family-owned Randwick Ritz in Sydney and Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas in Melbourne, said audiences were returning to art-houses as well.

“It’s by no means what it was,” he said. “With Spider-Man and Uncharted, those big blockbuster teenage films really were bringing audiences back but the older audience is what we were waiting for.”

Tamir said the Irish drama Belfast had passed the test of bringing back viewers over 50 this month.

“It’s been our number one film at the Classic and Ritz since it opened and that’s a strictly older-audience film: it’s black and white, with Judi Dench, and Kenneth Branagh directed,” he said. “The Oscar nominations have pushed it along nicely as well.”

Tamir believes many older viewers were more concerned about the nuisance of checking in and wearing a mask during a screening than catching the virus.

The big question for cinemas is whether box office will return to pre-pandemic levels or whether some have been permanently lost to streaming services.

Mackey believes the combination of strong movies and no restrictions could see a return to pre-pandemic trading by May-June.

“If people are choosing to stay at home, they’re going to choose between Netflix, Binge and free-to-air TV and free-to-air TV is losing that battle,” he said. “If they’re going out, they’re choosing between going to the football, the soccer, a restaurant or a cinema.”

Cinemas were one of the most affordable options if they offered an entertainment experience that compared well.

But Keogh is more cautious.

“We think it would be a solid result for the industry to get back to around 80 per cent this year,” he said. “We’ve given up some ground in January – we did about 60 per cent of 2019 levels – but there’s definitely a depth of content to hit that kind of figure.”

While much depended on whether a virus surge brought new restrictions, Keogh said it seemed like people were well and truly ready to socialise.

“I was out on Friday night in town and it was packed so it seems like there’s a desire for people to get back out again,” he said.