Cinema Audiences Want That Engagement and Emotion. Here’s How to Rethink Release Strategies.

This year, audiences flocked back to theaters for movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer, with recent research from Omdia predicting that theatrical releases will generate close to $50 billion globally this year.

Jackie Brenneman, founding partner of cinema industry consultancy The Fithian Group, is optimistic about the future of the business, as she will outline during the NAB Show session, “SMPTE’s Future of Cinema: How Capturing a Musical Event for Global Audiences Enhances the Immersive Experience and Breaks Traditional Barriers,” part of the new Core Education Collection: Create Series conference track.

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The panel, moderated by Carolyn Giardina, senior entertainment technology & crafts editor at Variety, will also feature Laurel Canyon Live president John Ross and independent director Sam Wrench.

“It’s still a very active and viable distribution platform for content owners and a place to experience something unique for consumers,” Brenneman says. “We just need to get a lot smarter at marketing it.”

“It’s not that music is specifically the future of cinema, but that the future of cinema is increased diversity of content appealing to all audiences,” says Brenneman.

It just so happens that Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concert film is tailor-made as a case study.

“It’s about marketing and awareness. So, the big differentiator and the reason we’re having this discussion surrounding Taylor Swift, was that the marketing strategy was so effective. In a single tweet she was able to alert hundreds of millions of people to her new movie, at a time when fans either couldn’t afford tickets or found her tour sold out.

“She used cinema as a means to go direct to fans. And it was just perfect timing,” says Brenneman.

“Of course, not everyone has such a great connection with fans as Taylor Swift but there are a lot of lessons to be learned. It showed that there is a way to really tap into fan desire and to do so affordably and effectively.

“With Barbie and Oppenheimer, the same idea applied. Fan-driven attendance and awareness is really key. It meant that marketing is both the challenge and the opportunity,” Brenneman elaborates.

It’s also important to understand that the movie theater industry has undergone a seismic change in the last couple of years.

For virtually the entire history of the movie theater business there’s been a large, fixed cost in getting any piece of content into a theatre. It would cost a thousand dollars or more to make and deliver a movie reel to a theater.

Studios had to be selective about which theaters they picked so as not to play too many competing films in certain markets. Since the switch to digital the industry introduced the virtual print fee (VPF) where the studios subsidized the cost of transitioning to digital projection equipment. Now those VPFs have expired.

“To all intents and purposes, they are gone so all of a sudden, we are in a true digital age of cinema,” Brenneman says. “That can and should mean more supply, better rates, and more flexibility to target audiences.

“We are just at the dawn of this. What the Eras concert showed is that you can make an offer to the entire market and allow exhibitors greater control.”

Prior to forming The Fithian Group, Brenneman was EVP and General Counsel to the National Association of Theatre Owners. In those roles, she was a frequent speaker and panelist at global exhibition events on the importance of data and optimism in shaping the narrative and future of the industry.

Recent research has shown how important social media (especially influencers or creators) is in driving awareness of new film and TV shows. Whilst this should be part of the media marketing mix, a reliance on social could exclude large parts of the population.

“We risk getting into this vicious cycle where we think only certain types of people go to the movies, because those are the only people that we are actually speaking to,” Brenneman says.

When you break down the demographics of big blockbusters its clear older audiences are coming in the same proportion that they were coming before the pandemic.”

Movie theaters, she will argue, have such a special place in the community. “Not all communities exist online. We know how to start to reach online communities but what about real communities of real people? A lot of influencing is done in the real world. Movie theaters are right there in the hearts of their communities. They can actually speak to real communities, offer promotions to local schools, or local senior centers, charities, and community groups.”

“If you’re able to tap into your local in-person influencer groups and market to them you can find the groups that would be most likely to see something like Taylor Swift or the Metropolitan Opera or whatever narrative feature or alternative content you are showing.”

A lot of recent discussion about the future of cinema pitted it against streaming which she says she never understood. “Streaming is an in-home option and far more of a competition to cable, but it got into consumer’s minds that home viewing was a replacement for cinema. Which is bizarre, because when people were going to Blockbuster every weekend and renting three movies and still going to the theaters no one thought to question its viability.”

Brenneman continues, “Post-COVID, and cinema has come back stronger. It’s clear they are not going to kill one other. Even while consumers have had their streaming habit entrenched while they were stuck at home when movie theaters re-opened, they started coming back in record numbers.”

That has to be because going to the movies is different than watching a movie at home. It is a completely different experience. This is not only because movies played back in IMAX-style large format screens and in enhanced properly calibrated surround sound are in fact a better and different experience than watching at home; there is also neurobiology research to back it up.

“Human beings didn’t evolve to actually regulate and feel and process emotions alone. We look to others to validate our response,” Brenneman says. “We don’t know how to feel when we are alone. We don’t laugh all by ourselves. We need to read the room and learn how to feel. The human emotional experience is a shared experience not an individual experience. We didn’t evolve that way.”

“Since almost all movies exist to allow you to have an emotional experience a movie theatre is the best place to experience that catharsis of emotional release,” asserts Brenneman.

“In addition, there’s still no cheaper way to get out of your house and do something chill, than going to the movies. People can talk about price all they want, but find me a cheaper, chill alternative to take a bunch of friends or family out of your house. There’s nothing better.”

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