Peter Bart: Promising Start Gives Amazon’s ‘Air’ Some Breathing Room, But It’s Still An Uphill Battle To Expand Theatrical Openings

“Show me the money” was the memorable battle cry in Jerry Maguire, the 1996 movie about a sports agent who must “deliver” for his manic client.

Matt Damon, the negotiator at the center of his and Ben Affleck’s new movie, delivers big time for his client, and so does the film. Air is an angry, trash-talking movie that somehow, in its final minutes, switches into a “feel good” epic.

In Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise survives both a love affair and a crisis of conscience. Air is about neither love nor conscience, but the $90 million movie — Amazon reportedly paid $120 million for the rights and package — carries a daunting bundle of expectations about the future of distribution (its producers include Peter Guber and David Ellison).

Its box office numbers for the opening week were auspicious but inevitably did not fully match those expectations. “There’s too much riding on every new theatrical release,” says one distributor, who notes that ticket sales are down 25% this year. Overall, the agonies of movie theaters seem to be worsening during this “recovery” year, rather than improving.

Air nonetheless is a fascinating and smartly made venture that represents the commitment of Amazon and its subsidiary, MGM, to give theatrical openings a major shot and perhaps open as many as 12 movies a year in theaters.

RELATED: ‘Air’ Trailer: Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Court Michael Jordan In Nike Dramedy

When Amazon bought MGM in 2021, Hollywood nervously predicted that its product would be committed to streamerville. Before the arrival of its chief, Jennifer Salke, a TV executive, Amazon was making well-reviewed releases for the adult audience like The Big Sick and Manchester by the Sea.

Air starring Damon and Affleck seemed to scream “mainstream” from the outset. It was a co-venture with their ambitious Artists Equity film company, a sort of profit-sharing creators’ co-op that wants to foster three other films in 2023, sharing earnings among contributors both above and below the line.

Its ventures also seem committed to theatrical openings along with Amazon releases including The Covenant, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and Challengers, with Zendaya.

But one question looms: Will the theaters stay healthy long enough to feast on these offerings? Last week Cineworld, the bankrupt owner of Regal, canceled its effort to sell its entire business. National CineMedia, the theater advertising firm, also is edging toward bankruptcy. All this despite the extra-terrestrial opening of The Super Mario Bros Movie.

Some 39,000 screens were functional at the end of 2022 at roughly 4,700 theaters, compared with 42,000 screens and 5,700 theaters at end of 2019.

The movie business from its inception has been built on optimism, especially those intersecting the sports world. Air focuses on the stalwart efforts of Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) to persuade then-NBA rookie Michael Jordan to agree to a giant deal with Nike, thereby changing the future of sports marketing.

Most of Air takes place in meeting rooms, but many critics found it “smart and entertaining” (Washington Post). The Guardian, however, argued that its obsessive dealmaking rhetoric modeled the film into “an expensive in-house corporate promotion for Nike.”

Nike’s adventures in sports endorsement have been intriguingly combative. Jordan emerged a billionaire, but Allyson Felix, the Olympic winner, ultimately charged that the company penalized female athletes on several grounds (including for pregnancy) with a 70% penalty.

Nike’s first endorsement deal was with Ilie Nastase, the fiery Romanian tennis star and entrepreneur who helped guide Boris Becker’s career into both sports endorsements and also prison time (his story is told in a new Apple TV doc).

To its co-producer Alex Gibney, Becker’s life reflects how sports stars depend on “their swagger” to carry them through life’s problems. Jordan’s “swagger,” and his billions, have proved more enduring than most.