Reigning Hollywood Universal brings “Wicked” to the top of the blockbuster scene

Universal Pictures was crowned the best studio in Hollywood last year, dethroning Disney from the box office throne for the first time in nearly a decade with a series of successful films such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and the award-winning “Oppenheimer.” Oscar.

So, as movie executives gathered at the CinemaCon Summit this week in the face of bleak industry forecasts and a lack of upcoming major releases, at least one company had a lot to celebrate in Las Vegas.

“There’s not much more you could ask for than to be number one at the box office and win the Academy Award for best picture,” Universal Chairman Donna Langley said during Universal’s presentation on Wednesday.

“It would have been easy to drop the mic then, wouldn’t it? But that’s not enough for us,” she said, before introducing a host of new titles, including “Wicked.”

Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum were brought to the stage to promote the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The first two films will hit theaters in November.

For many big-screen owners, Universal — thanks to a diverse mix of original films not based on the faltering superhero genre, and some clever viral marketing campaigns — offers a potential roadmap to recovery.

They are pinning their hopes on “Wicked” and animated films like “Despicable Me 4” and “The Wild Robot” to bring in much-needed customers in these difficult times for the industry.

Overall box office revenues have been slowly recovering each year since the pandemic, but are expected to shrink in 2024.

This is largely due to strikes in Hollywood that shut down film production for several months last year, leaving large gaps in release calendars.

‘Fresh’

But while competitors like Disney, Warner and Paramount have struggled for various reasons, these are tough times for Universal.

Just 12 months earlier, Langley brought director Christopher Nolan to the same Las Vegas theater to debut his film Oppenheimer.

In an expensive gamble, Universal lured Nolan from his traditional home at Warner, promising lavish backing for his atomic bomb movie.

Oppenheimer’s film grossed nearly $1 billion. Nolan appeared via video on Wednesday to thank the theater owners for their role.

Speaking to AFP, Universal’s head of international distribution Veronica Cowan Vandenberg said it had become clear that the industry “cannot rely on films that have traditionally been exceptionally strong in the last 20 years.”

Unlike competitors, Universal does not have any of the major superhero franchises that until recently dominated the multiplexes.

That’s been a stick to beat Universal with in recent years. But with the failure of competing films like Madame Web and The Marvels, there was a growing sense that audiences were tired of near-identical superhero films.

“All of these segments and franchises coming into the market have done very well for a very long time,” Quan Vandenberg said. “But today we’re in a place where… the public really wants to know, ‘What’s different about this?’ .

“Barbenheimer”

Social media has become an increasingly major tool for film studios.

Universal — along with Warner — has benefited from capturing the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that took hold last summer.

Because these trends are usually organic in origin, they are very difficult to do, Cowan Vandenberg said.

But Universal has been more successful than most, with a recent example being the TikTok dance craze for the horror film “M3GAN.”

A year ago, the “Gentleminions” trend involved teens wearing suits on trips to see the new “Minions” movie.

In October, a widespread trend broke out of posters and promotional cut-outs being stolen from theaters for the movie “Five Nights At Freddy’s.”

Although this trend was extremely frustrating for theater owners, it generated invaluable publicity for the Universal film.

“When we released the first trailer for M3GAN and saw how popular the TikTok dance was, we started leaning into events around the world showcasing that,” said Quan Vandenberg.

“It’s not something we necessarily make. But we help support the awareness and excitement around it.”

Source: Agence France-Presse