Movie theaters have their best box office since 2020, and it's the best possible news for streaming

When everyone thought movie theaters were dead, they suddenly rebelled with the best January since 2020: $620 million at the American box office (36 million more than the next record of 2023), in a phenomenon that is repeating in almost every country. Low and medium-budget films have been piling up, achieving all kinds of results, from just enough to save the plates of Sin Piedad to the stratospheric figures of La asistenta, which has already grossed $334 million worldwide, practically multiplying its budget by ten. And this is good news for movie theaters… but, above all, for streaming services.

Enjoy it as it should be: on TV

Let’s take the theatrical release of Sin Piedad, starring Chris Pratt, as a paradigmatic example. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but its tone, script, and style are those of a movie made directly for streaming. It cost about 60 million dollars, and Prime Video is well aware that if it were released as an original on its platform, no one would watch it. The cinema no longer serves as the main exhibition window, but rather as a showcase of what is to come to your streaming. What matters is not that it makes enough to be profitable, but that it piques the viewer’s curiosity to keep paying for another month.

The 4.9 euros it costs in Spain (14.99 in the United States) monthly is more interesting for Amazon than the money it makes from ticket sales, because that has to be shared among too many intermediaries. The streaming revenue is all theirs. And, logically, more people will always watch a movie that was number 1 in theaters than one whose existence they are unaware of, no matter how much Chris Pratt is featured prominently. Thus, Sin Piedad has grossed 49 million and will not cover expenses in theaters, but it is more than enough: it was number 1 for an entire week and was talked about on social media. The sleight of hand could not have gone better. It will be profitable.

Years ago, the success of a movie was based on two distinct windows. The first and main one was the cinema. The second was the sales (and rentals) of VHS and DVD, which was much more powerful than believed. Now, it has diversified much more: theaters remain the first window in terms of time, but not in terms of importance. In fact, there are movies in the United States that earn more money for the producer through VOD (hence they release them earlier, even risking piracy) or that have their main life later, when they are offered to all users under subscription.

Of course Warner is interested in the fact that One Battle After Another has made money at the box office and received Oscar nominations, but don’t be fooled by reality: the 208 million it grossed (compared to a budget of 130-175 million) would have been considered a failure in the past, but fame has kept the audience subscribed to HBO Max and brought in new viewers. At $18.49 for the standard version, multiplied by 128 million subscribers worldwide, the result is 2.366 billion a month. A month! Are you already convinced that movie theaters are just the trailers for streaming?

It is the new normal, and the final station of this journey we started in 2020: the coexistence between movie theaters and streaming that has led to all of them taking a good slice. The only problem? What Netflix is going to do with Warner, which could disrupt everything again. I’m afraid only time will tell. Let’s keep our fingers crossed to continue like this.