Cinemacon is supposed to celebrate the magic of the big screen and the power of the cinematographic experience. Instead, the Las Vegas rally this year was a tense and breathtaking affair that threatened to resurface old tensions between studios and exhibitors. All the frustrations of the last five years, during which a pandemic and two work strikes have left cinema a pale shadow of itself, almost boiled.
2025 was positioned as the highlight of the cinema industry in the days of glory while the cinema operators and Hollywood promising that a wave of adventures of superheroes, vehicles and fantastic adventures focused on stars would invigorate tickets. Instead, income is down 10% compared to 2024, such as the tastes of “snow white” and “Mickey 17” collapsed at the box office. Who is the fault?
The studios believe that the exhibitors did not do enough to innovate. They think that too many sites are exceeded and that cinema operators have not adopted reduction prices to attract consumers concerned for costs. The theater owners argue that their company was injured by the insistence of studios to publish new films on home entertainment in a few weeks after their theater debut. Oh, and they would like many more movies!
These disagreements have kept interesting things, although sometimes uncomfortable, in the colosseum of Caesars Palace. Here are five points to remember from a cinema that has exposed the existential crisis that cinema affairs are confronted.
Everything on windows
For weeks, the CEO of AMC Theatres, Adam Aron, launched in Hollywood that the films must remain exclusively in theaters for 60 days. The agreements that the cinemas have signed with studios at the height of COVID, allowing them to publish new products on demand within 17 days of their beginnings were a concession of the time of the pandemic, he maintains, and it is ready to renegotiate these terms.
Aron had a Cinemacon company, where the exhibition leaders argued that the new distribution models cannibalize their business. Michael O’Leary, head of Cinema United, brought the receipts. He used his welcome remarks to argue that blockbusters are still doing well, but the more profitable movies, the more the delta between the pre and post-country brushes. He wants the window to be seated at 45 days. (Before the pandemic, it was closer to 90.) This could be a major challenge for certain studios, which believe that the maintenance of films in theaters for months prevents them from fully capitalizing on marketing campaigns.
At least one traditional player was friendly. Disney obtained some of the greatest applause of the conference when its distribution manager used his presentation to remind the public that his business leaves his films in cinemas longer than any of his competitors.
“Believe me, it’s not by accident,” said Disney distribution director Andrew Cripps. “We believe in theatrical experience.”
The return of “We against them”
Last year, the edition of Cinemacon only took place three months after paralyzing Hollywood work strikes in 2023. Sympathy was high and the stars seemed relieved to promote their projects again. The studios have taken more time than expected to grease the massive content pipeline of Hollywood (some would say that it is still not aware). This year, there was not such compassion for exhibitors. A large part of it came from debates on the theatrical window and the lack of new products.
For their part, the theater owners are frustrated that the studios have trained the public to see everything that is not linked to comics as a streaming proposal only. A studio director deplored the indifference of the exhibitors, especially since the majors spend a ton of money by stealing for Vegas and cutting exciting trailers for films (many of which are unfinished). “It is” we against them “again,” deplored the executive.
Amazon MGM has trotted major stars like Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Chris Pratt, Ben Affleck, Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield for the very first Cinemacon presentation of the studio
Getty Images For Cinemacon
Will Amazon MGM fill the void of 20th Century Fox?
Theater owners, for years, have complained that they do not have enough product to screen. Ticket sales were not down because people were not inspired to go to the movies, they insisted. On the contrary, the studios had done less. (This is true. Pre-Pandemic, around 120 versions of large were planned each year, but this number dropped to two high figures.) The gap could be attributed, in part, to the loss of a large studio after Disney swallowed the 20th Century Fox in 2019.
Well, Amazon MGM seems to be the last, the best hope of filling the void. In the very first presentation of Cinemacon of the studio, the chief of Amazon MGM, Mike Hopkins, boldly promised to obtain “15 great cinematographic films per year in theaters by 2027 (…) with 14 titles already aligned for 2026.” It is an enormous development for exhibitors, who desperately want science fiction, fantasy, action adventures, romantic thrillers and family dishes to populate their screens between tentpoles. Now they just need an audience to introduce themselves.
Connect your exhibitors
For many basic workers who constitute the exhibition company – theater directors, candy sellers, projectionists, leather siege sellers – Cinemacon is the time to make an overview of the gods of the film on stage (and to play up to dawn). Conference lovers, this time, seemed more difficult to impress. It started with a gourmet response to Leonardo DiCaprio (“one battle after the other”), one of the last box office matches. The dull reaction in the room continued with Scarlett Johansson, who gained loose looks than thunderous applause. Are the theater owners no longer dazzled by Star Power? The only real moments of excitement were for Tom Cruise, who conquered the public by holding a moment of silence for his late co-star of “Top Gun” Val Kilmer, and the favorite “wicked” duo of everyone, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Apart from that, the people of the theater seemed much less shaken and stirred by the charming offensive exposed.
Survive to… ’26?
“Survive Till 25” was the rallying cry of studios and theater owners, until they realize that the recovery of the box office remained at the corner of the street. “Surviving up to 26” may not have the same ring, but it is the new goal post in their quest for normality at the box office. After all, 2026 is when the aftermath of some of the biggest film franchises in history – from “Avengers” and “Spider Man” to “Minions” and “Toy Story” – return to theaters. Add new films by Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, and you have made a spectacular rebound. On paper, at least.
