September Slump

[Mike Blakesley]

We brought Top Gun Maverick back for a third go-round. It half-again outgrossed "Bullet Train" which we played last week. I'm just amazed how well it's still doing (and drawing people for the third or fourth time, even) when it's out on POD video, and is over 3 months old.

[Bobby Henderson]

I was out of town on vacation, but apparently when they did the $3 ticket day here in Lawton the AMC Patriot 13 theater had to close down for some time during the evening shows due to a bunch of teens having a brawl inside the theater and out in the parking lot. Good times.

[Eric Thuemmel]

It would certainly help ease the "September Slump" if studios would give small-town 2-screens prints of their latest films. Got shut out trying for copies of THE WOMAN KING, SEE HOW THEY RUN, and AVATAR reissue over the next 2 weeks. (Is AVATAR only coming to large format screens?) At least we're able to get DON'T WORRY DARLING, and surprisingly THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER.

[Jon Dent]

Avatar has been limited to 3D screens in multiplexes. Our booker is convinced that they're doing it to help a certain theater chain that just declared bankruptcy. He's really not a fan of theirs....

[Mike Blakesley]

While I wouldn't put it past Disney, it seems odd that that they would limit Avatar to just 3Ds in multiplexes, or just 3Ds at all, considering they have the big new movie coming out.

[Bobby Henderson]

I suppose I get it why they're pushing Avatar into the movie theaters at the end of the month. Obviously it is a marketing effort to raise public awareness about the Avatar sequels, the first of which is supposed to hit theaters near the end of the year. It's going to be interesting to see what the original Avatar earns at the box office with this re-release. I have a sneaking feeling a lot of people who remember the original pop-cultural phenomenon 13 years ago are a bit burned out on it now. Just how much buzz is going on about Avatar now? It's a cool movie to look at on Blu-ray, but I have to say the show hasn't really aged all that well. Certain moments are kind of groan-inducing.

I'm kind of hoping the whole Avatar thing kind of burns itself out. James Cameron is a very good writer-director. I just don't like how he has reduced his career into the Avatar business. He could be making other movies. Hell, he could at least allow decent Blu-ray versions of The Abyss and True Lies to be released.

[Marcel Birgelen]

We organized a re-run of Avatar in 3D somewhere in 2016, about 6 people showed up. We did a re-run of The Big Lebowsky the week before: the room sold out to the last seat...

I went to see Moonage Daydream yesterday in an almost sold-out room, meanwhile, the rerun of Spiderman sold 4 measly tickets in that same cinema.

A sign of things to come?

[Mike Blakesley]

It shows how, once a movie is “done,” that means it’s done.

[Steve Guttag]

So, let's say that Avatar 3D bombs this coming week (and I'm in that camp). Does that predict how well Avatar 2 will do (as in, is this a non-franchise, franchise)? And, if so, what does Disney do then? If they know they have either a turkey or a non-blockbuster (e.g. Lightyear) on their hands...do they punt? Do they force the 3D thing still and stay the course? Do they tell Cameron that parts 3+ are canned? Does Cameron relent that the audience doesn't give a crap about 3D (except for the vocal few...there are always those)?

[James Wyrembelski]

It would certainly help ease the "September Slump" if studios would give small-town 2-screens prints of their latest films.

In the year of our Lord 2022, why is this still even a thing at this point???


Regarding Avatar. I already have reservations about it. There's no way it bombs but I cant imagine that it's going to be a 4 week minimum 65-70% title they think it is. Which makes me think of Wakanda Forever which is being touted as the turning point for the rest of the year. I've found that some of the smaller titles are doing just as much business or slightly less (but with less percentage owed and no 3 weeks). I may just be done with Marvel for quite a long time. But, every location is different. I can only speak for mine.


September hasn't turned out to be quite disaster I thought although I can't say the same for places that have literally played out everything over the summer to the point of tears.

[Mike Blakesley]

Not feeling the Wakanda buzz here at all. I’m a little worried about Avatar as well. I don’t know if the reissue of the original is a great indicator of how the new one will do, but if they insist on 3 weeks on these movies we may be out for one or both of them on the break. Depends on what else there is, I guess.

[Eric Thuemmel]

I'll give Cameron the benefit of the doubt, Titanic and Avatar were both initially expected to bomb, and see how they turned out. I'm seeing lots of TV ads (during NFL games) for the Avatar re-release, but it's only booked for 1700 screens in the US. We have 3D and a two-screen, but no luck in booking it.

We've been screening leftovers like Beast, Vengeance, and 3000 Years of Longing to single digit audiences since Labor Day. We had more people come for Tenet two years ago when we were masked and at 25% capacity. This is going to be a record bad September, at least we get a new movie this weekend but Don't Worry Darling might not pack in the small-town crowd. Lyle Lyle Crocodile in October might bring the next big crowd.

[Steve Guttag]

I don't recall either of those titles being predicted to bomb. I'm not saying that you won't find naysayers but Titanic, where I ran a premier, there was no buzz about bombing. Avatar exceeded expectations, for sure but I don't recall predictions of bombing.

[Bobby Henderson]

There was a good bit of negative industry buzz surrounding Titanic back in 1997 due to its swelling production budget and the production schedule going well beyond initial deadlines. Adding to that there was drama on set involving Cameron's almost tyrant like behavior. The movie was originally supposed to be released in July of 1997. The release date was kicked back to the fall and then delayed again to December because of things like the frost coming out of actors' mouths not looking good enough.

The negative buzz for Avatar involved its even larger budget. I think there were more than a few movie industry people expecting or even rooting for the project to fail.

Even going back to True Lies and The Abyss, James Cameron has had a tendency to try very demanding things that blow up a production budget and schedule. Usually the risks paid off very well. A lot of years have passed between the first Avatar movie and this upcoming sequel. And Cameron has been working on these new Avatar projects for years. Hopefully none of the work on this new installment (and its follow-ups) will seem rushed at all (unlike so many other Hollywood movies).

[Mark Lane]

This week we are showing Where the Crawdads Sing. It was not a movie I wanted to show but we are left with few choices. It was a movie a lot of woman asked for so I expected the movie would be a chick flick.. but I was pleasantly surprised in both the film and the turnout. Where the Crawdads Sing was to be a filler movie, to keep something on the screen and hopefully bring in enough to break even. It is doing very well for us.. like second week of Jurassic World good.

Next week we are showing At War with the Army and Scared to Death for a quarter each since those are the movies likely shown when the theater opened. We will show Goonies and Twister at the park. The following week we are showing Grease to raise food for the local food back.
Where the Crawdads Sing has brought in enough profit to cover the cost of the next couple of weeks. We are not going to make money in September but hopefully we make some goodwill with the community. We figured with the movies we had to choose from, we where not going to see a profit in September so we trying to make the best of a bad situation.