The Cinema Industry Unites in Las Vegas for CinemaCon 2021 — Here are the Key Takeouts

Paul Butler
Director, Group Insights & Analytics

CinemaCon has just wrapped in Las Vegas. Three days of glitz and glamour that attracts delegates from all walks of the industry — Content Creators, Studios, Distributors, Exhibitors, Marketing Publicity and Advertising Execs though to Concession and Equipment suppliers, it’s the most significant trade event in the Cinema calendar.

Whilst the scale of this year’s event, festivities and bar tabs might not have echoed previous years, particularly with many international guests unable to make the trip, the Studios came out swinging showcasing their new movies and the air was thick with unreserved excitement and confidence in the brightest of futures.

Here are the key takeouts:

The Big Screen is Back

Since its inception Cinema has battled and successfully overcome many hurdles, so resilience isn’t something new. And true to form, despite the last 18 months being the most turbulent in its history, the clear message is that Cinema is here to stay. A range of different release window strategies have been explored whilst Cinemas have been shuttered, but on the unique immersive power of the cinema experience, Patty Jenkins (WW1984 director) didn’t mince her words. She joined directors Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan who have championed the importance of releasing films on the big screen, reaffirming that she makes movies for the theatrical experience first and foremost.

The sentiment was echoed by studios including MGM and Sony, stressing their commitment to the theatrical exhibition. As John Fithian Chief of the National Association of Theatre Owners said, 

“Technology kept us connected during the pandemic, but nothing can replace meeting face to face. Humans simply need to be together. That’s why our business will thrive again. We are about to enter an era of great experimentation that I believe will only bolster the importance of the big screen experience.“

“Cinema is much more than a passive form of entertainment. It’s immersive and life-changing. The sense of community that cinema creates is more important than ever.”  

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ set to be the must-see movie of the summer following its record-breaking trailer

After being released at the Sony Pictures’ CinemaCon presentation on Tuesday, the first-look trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home smashed the 24-hour all-time global record for most views. The trailer was watched 355.5 million times, eclipsing the previous record-holder, Avengers: Endgame, (289 million views) and more than doubling views of the second trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, which hit 135 million views in 24-hours.

The trailer also generated the largest 24-hour social media conversation volume of all-time with 4.5 million mentions globally. The film’s early success follows 2019’s hit Spider-Man: Far From Home, which generated an audience of 2.4 million in Australia, Spider-Man: No Way Home will debut exclusively in US movie theatres on December 17 before delighting Marvel aficionados in Australian and New Zealand cinemas from Boxing Day.

Straight-to-streaming Proves Damaging for Content Creators

Film pirates are making money from day and date releases. Staggering results from a US poll released in a panel session showed 1 in 3 people had watched Black Widow on a pirated site, compared to 28% experiencing it in the Cinema and 13% watching on Disney+.

Theatrical piracy often involves individual copies being made in different markets with different languages via camcorders, but day and date allows pristine copies to be made in all available languages. But what was made clear at CinemaCon, is the impact of piracy on all parties. Piracy has resulted in a loss of revenue for Studios and Exhibitors alike, an alarming thought considering all the excellent work that has been done locally by Creative Content Australia on numerous fronts to stem piracy and protect rights holders.

A New Golden Age is Coming

Studio presentations are always the highlight of any cinema trade show and the wealth of content showcased at CinemaCon was no exception. MGM screened 9 minutes of high action from No Time To Die. Warner Bros. assured the industry they were very much still in the theatrical movie business with footage from The Batman (March 2022), the Williams Sisters biopic King Richard, Dune, Many Saints of Newark and the trailer debut of the Matrix revealing the subtitle Resurrections. Paramount introduced the first 13 minutes of Top Gun: Maverick to a great reception from the Exhibitors in attendance. In addition to debuting the Spider-Man trailer, Sony treated attendees to an advance screening of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which evoked goosebumps and in a poignant mark of respect Universal included workers from Cinemas across the US as presenters to introduce their product reel, which included Sing 2 (in cinemas here on Boxing Day), the upcoming animation The Bad Guys, female-driven spy flick The 355 and Jurassic World: Dominion among many more..