“It’s not really just about playing ‘Air,’” said Greg Marcus, CEO of Marcus Corporation, a movie entertainment and hosting company in Milwaukee. “The biggest and most important story is his commitment to make a theatrical slate so that something works and something doesn’t. Success must be judged on a complete list and include all revenue generated over the life of the list.”
Within the media industry
Between the advent of streaming and changes in consumer habits brought about by the pandemic, Hollywood has been constantly reassessing the way it thinks about movie theaters. Common wisdom over the past year is that superhero movies still draw crowds (even if the numbers are dwindling), as do movies with a wild spectacle (“Everywhere, Everything at Once”) or established characters. (“Creed III”).
Less confident are the movies Affleck prefers to traffic in, especially when he’s behind the camera: adult dramas with hints of comedy and a fervent feel-good tendency, like his Oscar-winning “Argo.” Recent Oscar contenders such as Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” have disappointed at the box office.
But a strong performance for “Air” could signal to the industry that adult movies are still viable in theaters. Apple, which previously shunned theaters, already has plans to release both Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” in theaters this year.
That could encourage other distributors to release more movies in theaters, and filmmakers eager to pass on money but still longing for their work to be seen on the big screen can look to Amazon. (“Air” grossed $3.2 million at the box office on Wednesday, and Amazon expects it to gross a modest $16 million over the weekend.)
“I think it can be legitimately argued that some movies are best experienced in theaters with a group of people,” Affleck said. “If they can provide strong theatrical releases where the movies are well supported, then Amazon will move to the front of the pack.”
When Ms Salke, a veteran TV executive, took over Amazon’s studio in 2018, her knowledge of the movie business was superficial at best. She had spent years supervising television at NBC, leading hits like “This Is Us.” At the start of her tenure, she spent close to $50 million on five movies at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The movies, including “Late Night” and “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” underperformed.
