While nothing challenged “The Batman” last weekend on the box office charts, a few dozen theaters in the United States actually saw higher grosses from a single live-event screening on Saturday night than they did for the DC blockbuster all weekend. Such is the dynamite power of K-Pop band BTS.
In 3,711 cinemas around the world on Saturday night, theatrical event distributor Trafalgar Releasing screened “BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage,” a broadcast of the K-Pop band’s first live show in South Korea since the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel their 2020 tour. Worldwide, the show grossed $32.6 million, the largest ever for a live event in cinemas.
There were reports of sold-out auditoriums worldwide as BTS fans paid the $35 premium ticket price. In the U.S., Trafalgar reported $6.8 million in grosses — good for No. 3 on the weekend charts — with some theaters in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Honolulu reporting that BTS was their top grosser for the weekend with $30,000-plus in sales for the single screening.
Such unprecedented success has put a new spotlight on event screenings, a small but growing portion of the movie theater industry that’s getting more attention from cinema owners seeking titles other than big studio tentpoles that will attract a wider range of customers after the pandemic. Trafalgar CEO Marc Allenby called the results for BTS a victory not just for his company but for all event distributors.
“Exhibitors definitely have a growing interest in event cinema releases to complement the theatrical release schedule,” Allenby told TheWrap. “We are seeing a genuine interest to open multiple play dates for events, when live isn’t a concern, and even the ability to play in premium weekend time slots, where event cinema was typically limited to Monday through Thursday to fill auditoriums on off-peak days.”
Prior to the pandemic, event releases were already gaining a foothold at the box office with a variety of audiences. On one end of the spectrum, MMA and boxing fans showed up to theaters to see broadcasts of big fights like Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder and UFC pay-per-views. On the other, aesthetes queued up for high-end performances like Fathom Events’ long-running live simulcasts of the Metropolitan Opera.
But as major studios have navigated the pandemic over the past year and theaters have seen many studio films fizzle at the box office, the dearth of content on weekends between tentpole releases has given event distributors new opportunities. On the first weekend of December — usually a dead period on the box office calendar — Fathom Events set a new company record with the faith-based event film “Christmas With the Chosen,” which grossed $1.5 million in just the first 12 hours of ticket sales and went on to gross over $13 million as new screenings were added up to Christmas Eve.
Fathom CEO Ray Nutt noted that the longer box office dry spells have led to event screenings taking up more auditoriums on Saturday nights than ever before, putting the onus on distributors to make it worth cinemas’ while. “We’re judged on opportunity cost. We need to show cinema providers that the product we put on their screen is making more money than whatever product they take off that screen to give us room,” Nutt said.
Both Trafalgar and Fathom say that they plan to expand their offerings both in the live and special event fields. Trafalgar will continue to reach out to K-Pop lovers next month with a special engagement screening of “Power of Love,” the first feature film from the synth-pop/hip-hop boy band Seventeen. The company also says it plans to make more deals with bands of all genres to screen live and recorded concert films, having already done so with groups like Coldplay, Metallica and Depeche Mode prior to the pandemic.
Fathom, meanwhile, says it’s currently in talks to expand its live sports offerings in theaters and also aims to build off the success of “Christmas With the Chosen” by creating more special engagements for faith-based moviegoers.
As event distribution expands, Allenby believes that it will be crucial for companies in the space to take the big screen experience that studios and theaters have been trying to promote to the public for mainstream movies and sell it as a compatible companion to other forms of entertainment.
“It is now really up to distributors to engage content owners who have projects that can really benefit from the communal nature that cinemas can bring their content in local communities worldwide. There is no other network of venues that is equipped to bring entertainment fans together like movie theaters can for a worldwide shared experience,” he said. “Event cinema often brings a new, or lapsed, audience to the cinema, and for this reason it’s particularly relevant now as the exhibition sector continues its recovery.”
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