Posted on Jan 9, 2022, 12:51 p.m.Updated Jan 9, 2022, 3:21 PM
Superhero, or nothing. As the Comscore office, which compiles the figures for the global box office, which ends 2021 at $ 21 billion, or half of that before the health crisis, explains, the past year has been that of superheroes. franchises and family films like “Tous en scène”.
“Films aimed at a more adult audience have struggled to attract a more reluctant yet important audience category,” notes Comscore. We are not talking here regarding obscure films, but regarding what we call middle films, that is to say author films but with commercial potential. Those who make the charm of the Oscars and take the top of the charts for the best films of all time several years later. When “Spider-Man: No Way Home” hit $ 1.4 billion, Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” the remake, only grossed just under $ 50 million. On the American market alone, the last Guillermo del Toro “Nightmare Alley”, despite an impressive lineup of celebrities, peaked at 8 million.
The Chinese market is no longer a relay
“The Williams Method”, on the tennis champion sisters, is, with 27 million, one of Will Smith’s smallest successes. “The Last Duel”, by Ridley Scott, brought in only 30 million, a resounding failure for this kind of budget (100 million). The concern is all the stronger as the Chinese market, which is in the lead ahead of the American market, has closed itself off to mainstream auteur films even though it sometimes provided generous additional income.
The phenomenon of the underperformance of middle-class films is less visible in France, a country which regulates cinema. The network of theaters creates a closer network for all audiences, the programming is more varied and the cinema culture is different.
But “questions arise”, according to Eric Marti of Comscore. “Films like ‘Eiffel’, ‘Aline’ or ‘Les Illusions perdues’ have had mixed results compared to their potential,” he explains. According to him, the analysis is “very complicated” this year because very dependent on the health situation. “The summer went very well for this kind of films,” he notes. In the fall, there was competition from other outings (theaters, concerts, etc.) which might play ”. The year also lacked blockbusters that pull the whole market up, like “Spider-Man” before Christmas.
The “Dont Look up” phenomenon
Even if the older public returned this summer to French cinemas and if family films attracting all generations did well at the end of the year (“Tous en scène”, “Les Tuche”, etc.), the older ones remain. more worried than the young people, who rush to “Spider-Man”. Once the health crisis has subsided, audiences will no doubt return to the films in the middle, even if there are concerns regarding the health of the post-crisis independent distribution ecosystem. Concerns somewhat offset by what the filmmaker Paul Schrader (“American Gigolo”) explains in a recent interview with “Le Monde”. Films cost less to produce. “We’re really free,” he said.
Of course, even if the platforms compete above all with television or DVD more than the releases, questions arise regarding what the public is looking for following the periods of confinement often devoted to the small screen. The successes of some mainstream auteur films released by Netflix at the end of the year are of concern. The satire “Dont Look up” on the reaction of American society to a comet going to destroy the earth in six months, is also undoubtedly the first feature film of the platform to really “make an event” in the media hubbub. A performance normally reserved for theatrical releases …
