If you’ve ever wondered just how profitable Spider-Man: No Way Home was, it has now been reported by Deadline that the film managed to net a profit of $610M minus all ancillaries. This matches earlier reports from December of 2021, where this was the estimated income just based on the film’s impressive momentum. While it was just shy of $2 billion, it seemingly has reinstated some hope into the theatrical release. Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Josh Greenstein shared his thoughts on their belief in the theatrical release:
Our theatrical model is driving our success and that is our core business. Our biggest movie ever had the longest window.
Josh Greenstein
No Way Home also had the longest theatrical window release of 88 days during the pandemic. They are the only studio that has no direct connection to a streaming service but mostly has made a smart move through pay-one TV deals with Netflix (an exclusive for 18 months) followed by Disney. It supposedly brought them up to $3 billion in profit. So, they can dominate streaming without the necessary investment to keep one service running.
Streaming is additive to our business. It’s not our core business. We participate in the streaming economy strategically with certain films. We’ve licensed some films to streamers during Covid, but our long-term big business model will always be driven by theatrical
Josh Greenstein
As Netflix faced its first loss in subscribers with a harsher Q2 on the horizon, Sony’s strategy is pulling off. the only drawback is that films are now dependent on making the most money within a shorter window. Streaming might face a harsh development soon and the dependency on subscriber income will lead to a long-term investment that requires time. One streaming service taking a hit will affect others as well, as the uncertainty of the market remains. For now, it’s going to be quite interesting to see how things develop but the theatrical release will remain an essential aspect of any future strategy.
