(Las Vegas) The American film studio Universal Pictures overtook its compatriot Disney at the box office last year, for the first time in almost a decade, with hits like Super Mario Bros, the movie or the Oscar winner Oppenheimer.
Despite the sector’s gloomy outlook, Universal (Comcast) therefore has reason to rejoice at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this year, during this major film industry convention giving the opportunity for Hollywood studios to present their upcoming productions to theater owners around the world.
“There’s not much more you can ask for than to be number one at the box office and win the Oscar for best picture,” Donna Langley, president, said in her group’s presentation on Wednesday. from Universal Pictures.
“It would have been easy to drop the mic after that, right? But that’s not enough for us,” she continued before announcing a series of new releases, in particular Wicked.
Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum were invited on stage to promote the two-film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The first of these two star-studded films comes out in November.
PHOTO VALERIE MACON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo
For many big theater owners, Universal offers a potential path to recovery through a diverse offering of original films breaking out of the superhero genre with viral marketing campaigns.
They are counting on Wickedas well as animated films like Despicable Me 4 And The Wild Robot to attract customers again in this difficult period for the sector.
Recettes attendues en baisse
Les recettes, également grevées par le streaming, se sont peu à peu rétablies depuis la pandémie de COVID-19. Mais elles sont attendues en baisse en 2024, après les grèves des acteurs et scénaristes à Hollywood qui ont entravé la production pendant des mois l’an dernier, pesant sur le calendrier des sorties.
Mais Universal tire son épingle du jeu, face à des rivaux comme Disney, Warner et Paramount.
Il y a tout juste un an, Mme Langley avait fait venir sur la même scène à Las Vegas le réalisateur Christopher Nolan pour présenter son film Oppenheimer.
Un pari onéreux pour Universal qui avait promis à Christopher Nolan un soutien généreux pour le convaincre de délaisser Warner.
Oppenheimer a rapporté près d’un milliard de dollars. Mercredi, le réalisateur est apparu en vidéo pour remercier les propriétaires de salles.
L’industrie cinématographique « ne peut plus compter sur les films qui ont traditionnellement été très solides dans les vingt dernières années », explique à l’AFP Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, présidente de la distribution internationale chez Universal.
Contrairement à la concurrence, Universal ne détient aucune des franchises de superhéros qui ont récemment rempli les salles. Cela a pesé sur le groupe ces dernières années, mais l’échec de films comme Madame Web ou The Marvels nourrit le sentiment que le public se fatigue de superhéros quasiment tous identiques.
« Toutes ces suites et ces franchises arrivées sur le marché ont très bien marché durant une longue période », ajoute Mme Kwan Vandenberg. « Mais nous sommes aujourd’hui à un stade où […] the public really wants to know “what’s different here?” “.
“Barbenheimer”
Social networks are becoming an increasingly essential tool for studios. Like Warner, Universal benefited from the “Barbenheimer” effect which caused a tidal wave towards theaters last summer with the behemoths barbie And Oppenheimer.
These spontaneous tendencies “are something incredibly difficult to achieve,” says Mme Kwan Vandenberg. Universal has nevertheless often succeeded in doing so, for example with the success on TikTok of the horror film dance M3GAN.
The previous year had seen the popularity of “Gentleminions” with teenagers going to see the latest opus of the Minions dressed in a suit and tie and imitating the main character, Felonius Gru.
And last October, the fashion was to steal horror film posters Five Nights At Freddy’s. Frustrating for theater owners, but very useful for free publicity for Universal’s film.
“When we released the first trailer for M3GAN and we saw how much dancing on TikTok was going viral, we started organizing events around the world where it featured,” says Mme Kwan Vandenberg. “It’s not necessarily something we decide to create. But we help to support the notoriety and the enthusiasm generated.”