New at The Numbers: Introducing Virtual Theatrical Tracking
April 27, 2020
The coronavirus outbreak has had a profound effect on the movie industry, with theaters shuttered around the world. One creative response to the crisis has been the introduction of virtual theatrical releases. Instead of releasing a film to the VOD or streaming platforms, distributors are partnering with movie theaters to create a moviegoing experience while staying at home. You can buy tickets from your local movie theater, just like in the good old days, and watch the film at home while helping to support the theater while it’s closed. For the full experience, you can even buy popcorn and snacks.
In support of this effort, we are adding virtual theatrical box office tracking to The Numbers this week. I’ll get into full details of how we’ll be doing that in a moment, but the short version is quite simple: virtual theatrical grosses will now be included in our daily, weekend, and weekly charts, and virtual theatrical releases will be listed on our movie release schedule. We will highlight the virtual theatrical releases on the charts, and tag the as “virtual” on the release schedule, to make it clear which films are playing in physical theaters (including drive-ins), and which are playing only as virtual releases.
As always, we will be as transparent as possible about how we report the numbers. Here are some frequently asked questions…
What counts as a “virtual theatrical” release?
Our rule is that a virtual cinema “ticket” has to be purchased directly from a named movie theater. The distributor or a tech platform might be involved, e.g., by processing the credit card payment or providing the video stream, but the purchase should be for a specific theater, and the theater should receive a similar share of the box office to regular theatrical showings.
We do not consider direct sales from a distributor’s web site, or fees paid to attend a virtual film festival to count towards virtual theatrical box office. Also, virtual screenings to support other businesses or organizations, such as record stores, trade guilds etc., do not count as virtual theatrical earnings.
What theaters are participating in virtual theatrical releases, and what films can I see?
Kate Erbland at IndieWire compiled a great summary of what’s showing, and where you can buy tickets.
How can I report grosses?
You can report grosses to our regular email address: bodata@the-numbers.com.
How will reporting be policed? How do you know the figures are accurate?
As with all box office reporting, we will be relying to an extent on the honor system and community self-policing. We’ll also be monitoring theaters’ web sites to make sure reported films are showing at the theaters claimed. If we get numbers that look questionable, we'll follow up with the distributor or theater reporting the numbers and reserve the right not to publish them, or remove them from our charts.
Why are the numbers being added to the existing theatrical charts, not added as a new chart?
There are two main reasons that we are including these numbers in our existing theatrical reports. First, since they are theatrical earnings, we want to include them in our theatrical market charts, which track the overall performance of the movie theater business from year to year.
Second, with so much uncertainty around the course of the pandemic and the economy, I think it’s too soon to add a new chart to our tracking. It’s possible that the theatrical business will come back strongly in a few months as the pandemic subsides, in which case virtual theatrical earnings will become something of a historical curiosity—one which we want to keep track of, of course, but doesn’t warrant a whole new reporting system. If the effects of the pandemic last for a long time, and the virtual theatrical market becomes more established, while clearly different from the physical theatrical market, we will almost certainly add virtual theatrical charts, and will move the current reports into those new charts. It’s also possible that the distinction between virtual theatrical and physical theatrical releases will become so blurred over time that they are pretty much universally tracked together—similar to how IMAX releases used to be reported separately, but are now mostly included in total box office reports each week.
The bottom line is that we don’t know how this will work out, so we’ve built a system that allows us to report numbers now in a way that distinguishes virtual and physical earnings, and that can be adapted in the future as the market evolves.
What about films that get both virtual and physical releases?
We will ask distributors to split out the virtual and physical grosses when they report them to us. Right now, we will report the combined gross in our charts, but highlight films with grosses that come from a combination of virtual and physical screenings. In the future, we hope to be able to split the grosses out into different categories.
Are these figures being double-counted in other charts, such as your VOD tracking?
Our VOD tracking is based on reports from platforms that are not participating in virtual theatrical releases, so this tracking will not affect our VOD numbers. My understanding is that virtual theatrical earnings are also not included in the new DEG Watched at Home chart, which we recently added to The Numbers. As the market evolves, we’ll continue talking to trade organizations, distributors, and our data clients, to make sure that our tracking reflects what’s happening in the industry as accurately as possible. Our goal is not to double-count any income figures.
I still have questions, or comments…
Please drop us an email at support@the-numbers.com.
- Our most recent weekend box office chart, now including virtual theatrical grosses
Bruce Nash, bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
