by Dov Kornits
Every day, another highly anticipated movie is shifting its release date to 2021, if not direct to streaming platforms. Cinemas are flying by the seat of their pants, juggling release schedules, running retro films to fill gaps, that’s if they’ve actually reopened – hello Victoria!
Overseas, major cinema chains are shutting down for the year, whilst locally, sites in Adelaide and Townsville will not be reopening.
So much stock was placed on the success of Tenet, the first ‘major’ film to be released in cinemas globally. To say that Warner Bros.’ Tenet underperformed, especially in the US, would be an understatement. Then came news that the highly anticipated Mulan would be bypassing cinema release altogether, with Disney choosing to prop up their fledgling streaming VOD platform amidst billion dollar losses in other parts of their business.
These developments reminded me of an industry event, a presentation to cinema operators by Disney of their upcoming film slate, Mulan included. As the cinema managers exited, I overheard someone say, ‘where would we be without Disney?’ Well, you’re here, right now! And what are you doing about it?
Sure, JobKeeper propped up a lot of cinemas, and continues to do so, though as we all know, that is about to be phased out before most tentpoles return to our screens. And what of the audience, are they willing to go back into the cinemas?
“I think there is a core audience that just wants to get back to going to the movies, and we saw them come out with bells on last time round,” says Andrew Taylor of Showbiz Cinemas, which operate sites in Ballarat, Portland and Swan Hill, all in Victoria. He is of course referring to audiences who returned after the first lockdown.
“I also think that having been cooped up in isolation now for God knows how long… I was talking to someone from Sydney last week, and they said, ‘What are the first three things you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to get a haircut, I want to go to a restaurant, and I want to go to the movies’. I want to get out. And I think the public is like that. There’s always going to be a section that’s going to be a bit nervous about it. There’s obviously the greater impact on the economy and what people can and can’t afford.”
In terms of major studio product that is still on the release schedule for 2020, we have the following from Sony: The Climb (an indie acquisition), The Craft: Legacy, the animated Connected, Christmas movie Happiest Season and Peter Rabbit 2; from Universal: Australian film Dirt Music, Jon Stewart’s Irresistible, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, Sundance acquisition Never Rarely Sometimes Always, romance All My Life, comedy The War With Grandpa and The Croods 2; Paramount has Coming 2 America and Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984, though I would get pretty good odds if I wagered on them remaining in 2021; Roadshow have Aussie film Rams and war movie The Outpost; and last year’s cinema saviours Disney have supernatural thriller The Empty Man, Oscar hopeful Nomadland and the potentially most commercial title of them all, Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds from the director of A Night at the Museum. There are also plenty of indies, offering interesting content that isn’t incumbent on a US release.
So, where does all of this leave cinemas? As they often admit themselves, cinemas are in the business of show, and what’s required is to not rest on your laurels, hopeful that audiences will return with the blockbusters, but to harken back to the principles that made cinemagoing such an enticing activity for the past 50+ years, both culturally and in terms of entertainment. The films shown need to speak to their communities and the people need to know about the films playing at their cinemas. The eclectic films playing at your local cinema need to become ‘water cooler’ conversations in the way that the streamers have made their product cultural currency. And it’s not all on the distributor to do so – cinemas need to educate their audiences too, just like the streamers do.
“We’d already put some measures in place in terms of running home delivery and a collection service to sell off stock, which worked really well,” says Showbiz’s Andrew Taylor. “It showed our market that we were still active and alive. And then in the background, we worked away at launching an on-demand platform, again, to give us that presence and show that we’re still with our audience, that we’re still rolling along.”
Unfortunately, the boat has sailed on transactional VOD, as streaming VOD companies have cornered the market during COVID. Now is the time to make the cinema experience special. How do you do that? Film clubs, staff that know their stuff about movies, offer communal experiences, unique programming that speaks to the values of customers, eventised screenings, film festivals, giving films a chance to find their audience before yanking them off screens, promoting and educating audiences about quality cinema, championing film criticism, taking chances on films that speak up rather than down to the audience, previews, the list goes on. A lot of work ahead for cinemas to survive, but one thing for sure, cinema is here to stay.
