The Metropolitan Opera and Fathom Events extend their agreement for a series of projections on alternative content “Live in HD

Fathom Events and the Metropolitan Opera have renewed “The Met: Live in HD” screening series, continuing a cultural tradition that has brought many performances from the Met’s stage at Lincoln Center directly to theater screens across the country since 2006. towards.

The partnership between the country’s largest performing arts institution and leading event film distributor will be renewed for another three years, through the 2025-26 season, ending the 20th year of the “Live in HD” program.

The announcement comes three weeks before the live broadcast in high definition on December 10 of a new drama, “The Hours,” by Kevin Puts, based on the novel by Michael Cunningham and its 2002 film. The Met presents the world premiere of the work.

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The association, which began in 2006 with less than 100 theaters, has grown to an average of 725 theaters and an estimated audience of more than 580,000 spectators per year, according to representatives of both organizations.

The agreement between Fathom and the Met brought in total revenue of more than $205 million, which means about 10 million tickets sold, explains Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt. Fathom’s events with the Met are consistently in the top 10 at the box office on the date of the event, according to Comscore data. The Met now accounts for half of Fathom Events’ live box office receipts.

“The Met is a cultural touchstone and one of the most iconic performing arts brands in the world,” said Nutt, “Not everyone can get to Lincoln Center, and this is a great way for audiences to for the Met to expand.” , and ours. We look forward to continuing to work with the Met to bring more quality shows to fans across the country.”

Peter Gelb, CEO of the Met, said the innovative partnership with Fathom “has brought the beauty and power of opera to millions of people who would otherwise not have access to it. We are grateful to have such a great partner in Fathom and we look forward to continuing our shared mission of bringing world-class musicals to moviegoers across the United States and beyond.”

The deal with Fathom began during Gelb’s first season at the Met, during which he has enjoyed success.

“It was an experiment, more of a marketing exercise than anything else,” says Gelb, “the hope was that by airing Saturday trades in theaters, we would strengthen the connection between the Met and its audience where it had not them at the opera. We were very successful. Within a few years, we were not only breaking even, but generating a significant amount of net income for our bottom line.”

“The Hours” is one of seven new Met productions to be presented in the 2022-23 season, including the “Live in HD” opening performance, the Met premiere of Cherubini’s “Medea.” 14 January); Wagner’s “Lohengrin” (March 18); “Champion” Terence Blanchard (April 29); Mozart “Don Giovanni” (May 20) and “Die Zauberflote” (June 3). All performances on Saturday will be broadcast live from the Met stage.

The HD season will also include performances of Verdi’s “Falstaff” (April 1) and Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” (April 15). On December 3, a special encore of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” will be shown. Reruns of all musicals take place on the Wednesday following the live projections on Saturday.

Broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera began on radio in 1931, and continue on more than 300 US radio stations. The organization experimented with television broadcasts in the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1977 the occasional series “Live From the Met” was launched on PBS. .

The “Live in HD” series makes the Met the only arts institution with an ongoing world series of this size, making it a leading provider of alternative film content. The United States is the single largest market, Gelb says, although nearly 70% of the series’ audience is outside the United States, across 11 different time zones around the world.

Fathom, for its part, is one of the leading distributors of content to movie theaters in North America. It is owned by AMC Entertainment, Cinemark Holdings and Regal, a subsidiary of Cineworld Group. “Event cinema,” says Nutt, “has changed the way movie theaters operate over the years, in much-needed ways.”