usheru's Winter Monthly Roundup

Our Monthly Roundup

We are hurtling towards the holiday season with a brighter outlook than the previous two years, despite all of the current economic uncertainty and trepidation. As the northern hemisphere is in the midst now of the winter release schedule, we are seeing Hollywood studios continuing to theatrically release blockbusters and showing a continuing confidence in the bounce-back of the cinema industry. This includes MAJOR releases including the latest Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the long-time-coming Avatar followup The Way of Water. Pre-awards season bait is peppered throughout the upcoming season as well.?

usheru have continued our global engagement with industry colleagues and peers, including attending AFM recently - the first in-person post-pandemic - where we announced our ticketing widget, the latest and easiest solution for distributors and studios to drive audiences towards ticket purchase on their own website.?

Additionally, our Head of Business Development Mark K. attended the International Distribution Summit in Cologne (Germany) and Toni Oliete travelled to Gijon International Film Festival / FICX (Spain) to moderate a panel with Spanish film industry experts focused on Trends in independent film distribution. More details on these trips below..?

What we learned from our Podcast?

The German, Irish and Australian markets were in focus on The Movie Marketing and Distribution Podcast last month, with guests from Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH ( Dorothee Pfistner ), Wildcard Distribution ( Patrick O'Neill ) and Madman Entertainment ( Michael Matrenza ).?

Familiar themes emerged of independent distributors responding to changing cinema-going habits and the dominance of the streaming model. What remains clear is that acquiring the right product is still critical to the success of these operations - for Dorothee this is about opportunities to reposition titles for the German market, whereas both Patrick and Michael stressed the importance of building relationships with local producers.?

After multiple lockdowns in Australia, Michael recognises the market has changed significantly but sees one upside in increasing collaboration - and sharing of data? - between cinemas and distributors;?

"The vision that you have as a marketer working on cinema releases to actual consumer data is getting better and better all the time."?

What happened at industry events

American Film Market (AFM) - US

Our team’s experts had a wonderful experience at #AFM in Santa Monica meeting with clients, partners and peers in the industry. We were delighted to sponsor this prestigious event and to have the opportunity to speak to the audiences at the Palisades and Arcadia stages.

“What a fun week in Santa Monica sponsoring AFM & representing the team on stage. It was a comeback show for the industry and despite some tough market conditions, optimism was in the air”, said Oliver Fegan , usheru CEO & Co-Founder.?

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION SUMMIT (IDS) - GERMANY

Mark K. - usheru Head of Partnerships - was invited to the International Distribution Summit in Cologne for the fantastic keynote & presentation “Film Marketing: Long Term – But NOW!”,? moderated by Lena Kettner (Prokino Filmverleih GmbH) (#IDS)

The Summit brought together top-class players who presented successful concepts, best practices and innovative distribution work in a changing environment.

In Mark’s words “Great to be part of this event and learn how German Distributors are adapting to change”.

More information about the event here https://cineuropa.org/en/dossiernewsdetail/1369/432991/

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You can also check out all of our latest podcast episodes where Alex Stolz has fascinating conversations with film marketing and distribution trailblazers from around the world here.