AMC enlisted Nicole Kidman for a $25 million U.S. national advertising campaign to trumpet that films are best enjoyed in the “seamless, communal, multi-sensory experience” of its theaters, said the chain Wednesday. AMC-owned Odeon Cinema Group will use similar messaging in nine European countries, it said. AMC’s theater admission “trend lines” are down compared with pre-pandemic 2019, but are showing “significant improvement” sequentially, said CEO Adam Aron on an Aug. 9 investor call.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in October, November and December in person, though courtroom access will be limited to the justices, essential court personnel, counsel for the scheduled cases and journalists with full-time SCOTUS press credentials, the court said Wednesday. It said it will continue providing a live audio feed of the oral arguments. Courts have been moving toward holding more in-person hearings, we have reported (see here).
Despite rising COVID-19 case counts, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, which premiered in theaters Friday, crushed expectations, delivering more than $90 million over the extended Labor Day weekend, Colliers analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Tuesday. The film’s three-day total of $75.5 million was well ahead of industry forecasts of $52 million-$55 million. Unlike Black Widow, which premiered in theaters and on Disney+ for $30 in July, Shang-Chi was exclusive to theaters “and clearly brought the fan boys out,” said Frankel. The film drove the Labor Day weekend box office to $134.6 million, up 10% from 2019. Imax said it earned $13.6 million globally from the film. Labor Day admissions revenue set a record for AMC, said the theater chain Tuesday, eclipsing the previous record set in 2013. More than 2 million people watched movies at AMC's U.S. locations Thursday through Sunday, it said. AMC CEO Adam Aron called the Labor Day weekend "an important milestone" for AMC "as we steadily work to generate a recovery for our business."
Sony withdrew from October trade shows, including NAB and InfoComm, it emailed Tuesday. The company will host an online event Oct. 10 at noon EDT at NabShow.com/live and pro.sony, during which it will unveil its latest products. In a statement, Sony Pro Division President Theresa Alesso said the company has been closely monitoring the evolving situation of the COVID-19 delta variant, and considering the "unprecedented circumstances," made the decision to not participate in person at the shows. "While these events are an important forum to reach our customers and introduce new products, this is a choice we made to ensure we’re putting our employees’ and our partners’ health and well-being first," Alesso said. Sony will continue to communicate and engage with customers and partners in "interactive, accessible ways," she said.
The “negative effects” of COVID-19's delta variant on hiring and the economy were apparent in Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing the U.S. added only 235,000 jobs in August, far fewer than the 1.05 million added in July, blogged Gad Levanon, Conference Board vice president-labor markets. “The ongoing increase in the number of new infections is likely to lead to another subpar payrolls print in September,” he said Friday. But he predicted “these severe labor shortages” are likely to ease toward the end of 2021, “as enhanced unemployment benefits expire and schools reopen, leading more workers to return to the labor market.”
The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest “as we have all known it will be no more,” emailed producers Marjorie Baumert and Marcie Miller Thursday, after COVID-19 forced them to scrap the event for the second straight year. “RMAF was our founder Al Stiefel’s dream, and we’ve done our best to nurture his vision for 12 years, along with help from the Colorado Audio Society and all our volunteers from around the world,” they said, saying they are “off to new adventures!” The next RMAF show was slated for Oct. 8-10 in Aurora, Colorado, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center. “The very worst thing that we can envision is for someone to fall ill because they came to our show,” they said. Though parts of the U.S. are "fully open," COVID-19 cases and deaths are still rising, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "is projecting an even more deadly Lambda wave this fall,” they said: “We are frightened on behalf of our friends in the audio industry on many levels.” RMAF had produced new room layouts and a handbook for exhibitors in the hope the show would go on, and the website still showed the event as active Thursday, leading to confusion on social media. After following news reports of the virus, reading feedback from industry members “and watching the cancellation of numerous other shows, we no longer hold that hope,” they said. Peachtree Audio didn’t sign up to be an exhibitor for RMAF 2021 “mostly due to COVID concerns,” Jim Spainhour, head-product development, told us Thursday. Though RMAF was “never the largest show,” it was “the most fun and had the most positive vibes,” he said. “It would be nice if someone came in and did the heavy lifting for Marjorie so it could continue; but we should respect the decision. Those shows are a ton of work.” Anthony Kershaw, publisher of high-end publication Audiophilia, tweeted Thursday that RMAF's shutdown of RMAF is a “truly sad event.” Lars Johansen, chief sales officer at Perlisten Audio, emailed: "We are of course disappointed as we saw the exhibition as a major part of our expansion plans -- and that RMAF was a major part of our marketing strategy." Krell Industries Chief Operating Officer Walter Schofield called Thursday a “sad day for the audio world,” saying “the many successful RMAF events that the amazing team there put forth over the years will always be remembered fondly.".
The U.S. media and entertainment industry is working to put COVID-19's effects behind it, reported S&P Global Ratings Wednesday. Recovery in the “advertising-focused” media sectors has been more “robust” than in others because ad spending began rebounding in 2020's Q3 and will, “in aggregate,” surpass pre-pandemic levels by year-end, it said. “Out-of-home” entertainment sectors, like theatrical film exhibition, “haven't fared as well” because their recovery has been blunted by “consumer and government reactions” to the spread of the delta variant. Though S&P expects out-of-home entertainment revenue to rebound in 2022, “it could take until 2023, or beyond, for the credit metrics of the participants in this segment to fully recover given their higher debt levels” following the pandemic, it said. An increasing number of films “skipped theaters and were released directly on streaming services” even before COVID-19, said S&P. “Then the pandemic struck, which ... accelerated the preexisting secular shifts. Even as theaters have begun reopening and the backlog of movie releases begins to clear, we believe the pandemic will lead to permanent changes in the film industry.”
The surge in new COVID-19 variants is swaying two-thirds of organizations to delay their return to the physical workspace, reported Gartner Tuesday. It canvassed 238 human resource leaders Aug. 24, finding 16% are mandating COVID-19 vaccinations, up from the 2% that in January planned to require inoculations. A third said FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine increased the likelihood their organizations will mandate vaccines, but nearly half said the FDA’s OK would have no impact on decisions. Requirements from state and local governments are more likely to steer organizations toward vaccine mandates, said Gartner: “Employers want the benefit of a vaccinated workforce, but don’t want the responsibility of having to implement and manage a vaccine mandate.”
The cable industry’s 2021 Independent Show will be held online Oct. 5-6 instead of in person in Minneapolis as previously planned, said sponsors the National Cable Television Cooperative and ACA Connects Tuesday. A virtual event allows the industry to convene “in the safest possible manner amid lingering uncertainty over the appropriateness of large in-person events,” said the release. “It’s the correct decision, with broad support from both ACAC and NCTC members,” said ACA Chairman Patricia Jo Boyers. Despite COVID-19 safety measures, “NCTC and ACAC planners could not, in good faith, ensure that they could provide a safe environment due to the highly contagious Delta variant,” the release said. For a report on other conferences amid the pandemic, see here.
Zoom fiscal Q2 revenue grew 54% year over year to $1.02 billion, in its first “billion-dollar-plus” quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Kelly Steckelberg on a Monday call. “As we’ve just lapped our first full quarter year-over-year compare since the start of the pandemic, we have seen customers return to more thoughtful, measured buying patterns.” Revenue and profitability were strong in the quarter ended July 31, but “other metrics have begun to normalize, especially when compared to the unprecedented year-over-year comps,” she said. Zoom expects its online business “will be a headwind in the coming quarters,” she said. The online sector consists “primarily” of small-business people and individual consumers, many of whom are “socializing in person now,” doing fewer Zoom calls, “and that's where we are starting to see some of the challenges,” she said. Zoom had expected the “slowdown” toward the end of the year, but it “just happened a little bit more quickly than we expected,” she said. The stock closed down 17% Tuesday at $289.50.