Hollywood gives pure entertainment another shot

The Future. C-suite execs at Universal, Paramount, and Disney are all signaling that they’re actively focused on making movies that can attract the widest audience and prioritize entertainment. To see if the strategy leads to a meaningful increase in theatrical ticket sales, the studios may make more mid-budget films over the next few years to increase their output while minimizing risk and test-launching new franchises.

Big screen, big tent
Hollywood studios are messaging that their movies are truly for everybody.

• Why? Because the box office is struggling after COVID, industry contraction, and last year’s strikes — ticket sales are down roughly 35% from 2019.
• Additionally, over the past several years, message-driven movies have struggled (leading, in part, to the surprise shuttering of Participant Media) or invited controversy (some of Disney’s recent animated output).
• But, audiences in “red states” have returned to theaters faster than those on the more progressive coasts, according to studio distribution execs.

The strategy is proving successful — the team behind Universal’s Twisters consciously didn’t mention climate change and marketed the movie hard to heartland audiences, catapulting it to an above-expectations $81.3 million domestic opening. It even over-indexed in states like Texas and Oklahoma.

Universal’s chief marketing officer Michael Moses said, “We couldn’t afford to overlook any audience. With every decision, it was about how can we include and not exclude.”