We’ve now heard the European cinema group, UNIC, predict that the major box office recovery ‘bounce’ will happen this year, with lofty predictions of up to 75% jumps in ticket sales year on year. Our specialist entertainment attorney with Blake & Wang P.A weighs in on the matter.
Spiderman Only the Beginning
Much of the impetus for this predicted boom will be building from the many key successes of the superhero tentpole, Spiderman: No Way Home. Although we’ve also entered something of a boom market for local-language content, with strong contenders from Russia and France also performing well at the 2021 European box office.
Yet it’s undoubtedly Spiderman that brought people back to the cinema in a way we haven’t seen post-pandemic. It’s earned over $55M in France, $105M in the UK, and $41M in Russia alone.
A Pivotal Year for the Industry
We’ve also seen a lot more clarity on release dates and plans from major studios, which will prove enticing when coupled with the slate of blockbuster-heavy titles due to release in 2022. Can we so easily dismiss the effects of the Omicron variant, however? We’ve seen nothing like the large-scale cinema closures of the first waves, so maybe that’s a tentative yes.
After all, data supports the idea that when cinemas were open as normal during the post-pandemic era, box office results were already reasonably close to pre-pandemic levels. Using the UK and Ireland as an example, Q4 of 2021 lagged only 11% behind the average of the 3 non-pandemic years before.
Provided the diverse and enticing film slate we’ve been promised actually releases, these lofty predictions of a full European box office recovery may not be far-fetched at all. Will we get there? It’s too early to tell, but Brandon Blake and the rest of the team will be watching with interest.
Film and Television 