Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tony Vinciqueira claimed that AMPTP’s offer to the actors’ union was “the best offer ever made to the SAG-AFTRA group.”
In a wide-ranging conversation on fire at the Audiovisual Producers Summit in Italy, Vinciqueira said he was “appalled” by the labor strikes in Los Angeles and added, “We don’t want the strikes to continue. It’s not good for anyone.”
Repeat several times during the chat that the studios want to “make a deal.”
He said: “We entered the talks determined to strike an agreement.” “There’s been a lot of headlines saying otherwise, but it’s just not true. We want to get this done and we want to get back to negotiations… We need to sort this out. We want to get back around the table.”
Last month, SAG-AFTRA claimed that AMPTP, which represents studios and broadcast screens, “will not be meaningfully engaged on issues that matter most,” we reported. AMPTP responded by saying that SAG “mischaracterised[d] negotiations.”
Asked if he expects production levels to rise in Europe as the strikes continue, Vinciqueira said: “The normal thing that happened was European production increased, but we haven’t seen anything concrete yet.” [in regards to the strike]. “
Since the actors’ strike began, many European producers have been evaluating whether their projects can find American partners as the days, weeks and months go by.
Eagle Pictures Entertainment CEO Tarek Ben Ammar, who also appeared on the chat, said the strikes would not “fill the void” with European productions because “these films are not in [U.S.] market anyway.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Vinciquerra revealed that Sony’s box office takings for the 12 months starting in March 2023 will return to pre-pandemic levels. “We’re going back very close to the 2019 numbers, which is great,” he said.
I saw this year Spider-Man: Through the Spider-ManComedy Jennifer Lawrence No hard feelings And horror Insidious: The Red Door Good performance during the summer. With the Barbeheimer phenomenon appearing to have helped Barbie And Oppenheimer To post strong box office previews this week, there is a sense that films may be returning to center stage globally, even though the media and entertainment economy is suffering from a downturn in the advertising market.
Vinciqueira added that he was “very happy” with the weekend’s prospects thanks to “Barbieheimer”, saying it was generally good for business despite the films being on competitors’ slate. “It’s time to start asking people to get back into theatres,” he added.
He noted that the devastation of Covid-19 had left Italian moviegoers reluctant to return — the domestic box office was suffering — but he hoped the quality of the releases would change minds. “We hope to get people into theaters with a great product,” he said.
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