Event marketing once related to the Super Bowl or a Bruce Springsteen concert. The term now applies to Hollywood blockbusters. In July, Universal started selling tickets for its opening of the movie “The Odyssey,” scheduled for 17 July 2026. Certainly the cast, which includes Matt Damon and Zendaya, is a draw, but so is director Christopher Nolan.
The real allure, however, may be the 70mm IMAX format of the film, offering more vivid color and greater detail than traditional filmmaking. “The Odyssey” will be the first film ever shot entirely in 70mm IMAX. Nolan’s recent film, the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer,” was shot partially, but not entirely in this format. The widescreen approach is a truly expensive endeavor with custom-made cameras, but Nolan is important and coercive enough to convince his producers to back him.
Industry insiders refer to Nolan as a “director’s director.” He brings focus and passion to the sound stage, while avoiding public scrutiny. The reserved demeanor apparently works well in the boardroom. He assembled a $250 million budget for “The Odyssey,” roughly 150% larger than the outlay for “Oppenheimer.”
The marketing strategy here is the fear of missing out. There are less than twenty theaters nationwide with 70MM IMAX capability. Here in Florida, the sole location is in Fort Lauderdale, not Orlando. For “The Odyssey,” all screens nationwide sold out within hours of ticket availability. A Bloomberg columnist points out in his commentary on this topic that we may have collectively lost this sense of buzz when online ticketing for movies became commonplace. For context, the popular movie-ticket platform Fandango launched over two decades ago in 2000.
Hollywood is lost in the woods. The pandemic was an enormous turning point for the industry. Consumers spent thousands of dollars on home theater setups and are unlikely to abandon their cozy chairs with myriad streamers at their fingertips. A monthly subscription for Amazon Prime, now priced at $15 in the United States, affords endless entertainment, even if you must pay a premium to avoid commercials and access third-party content. In New York City, the price of a single adult movie ticket at Regal Times Square can be $21.
Perhaps 5,500-to-6,000 cinemas have closed across America since 2020. Among those surviving, owners accept less revenue from smaller audiences, but they attempt to fill the income gap with other amenities. B&B Theaters, the nation’s fifth-largest chain, now offers pickleball and bocce ball courts, alongside full-service bars and complete meal menus. The idea is to get consumers to spend money, even if they are not there to watch a movie. Albeit slowly, the strategy seems to be working in some markets.
With cinema operators facing a theatrical window that can be as tight as 17 days before a movie is distributed through home-entertainment channels, the blockbuster event is more important than ever. The marketing strategy helps to sustain fast-dwindling revenue in the weeks after a new release. The approach is not without critics, though. Some cinema operators would prefer a steady stream of high-quality movies. Their argument is based on the death-defying gap between tentpole productions.
The music industry may have shown the way for Hollywood. Taylor Swift’s movie, launched in tandem with her “Eras Tour,” was an enormous success, in part because it was positioned as a larger-than-life event. Similarly, Beyonce and her “Renaissance” film helped to redefine how moviegoers think about the cinema experience.
Can all Hollywood productions be marketed as an event? Most will simply not have the budget to reach beyond traditional marketing and distribution channels. The concept, though, breathes fresh life into a confused industry. ■
Our Vantage Point: The forthcoming opening of “The Odyssey” sets a new pace for movie distribution, while spotlighting the cinema as a destination experience. One problem: Movie studios cannot release blockbusters every week of the year.
Learn more at Bloomberg
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