Sony Pictures has raised its box office forecast for “Garfield” and expressed confidence in the upcoming June release of “Bad Boys 4: Ride or Die.” On the 29th local time, senior executives at Sony stated that despite the sluggish box office performance in the first five months of this year, they remain optimistic about the future of the film industry.
According to reports from Variety and Deadline, Tony Vinciquerra, the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said during a conference call with Sony Group that factors such as the impact of the strike by the American actors’ and writers’ guild, streaming media competition, and disruptions in film production and increased costs during the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the number of films.
Vinciquerra commented, “The reality is that people have lost the habit of going to the theaters to watch movies. As the movie market begins to recover, people will return to theaters. In the second half of this year, you will see a fairly significant recovery. One movie will increase the chances of the next movie being released. Starting in July, there will be a major movie release every week.”
“When we return to a normal pace of film production, I think you will see a comeback. We may not be able to return to pre-pandemic levels, making a movie that has a cultural impact in the community is more challenging, but we are quite optimistic about the next few years,” Vinciquerra said.
Although Sony’s “Madame Web” had a dismal box office performance after its release in February, it topped the U.S. Netflix chart for a week in mid-May, with over 10 million global views. Vinciquerra said that there is currently no superhero fatigue and he predicts that Disney’s Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” could potentially become one of the top two movies of the year.
Vinciquerra is confident in Sony’s “Bad Boys 4: Ride or Die,” stating, “We are very sure that everything will turn out fine.” He also mentioned that Sony recently raised the box office forecast for “The Garfield Movie.”
“Bad Boys 4: Ride or Die” is set to premiere in Taiwan on June 5th and in North America on June 7th.