Coronavirus Pandemic

[tufty]

cinemas, which were barely alive as it is, might well never come back from this at all, I'm afraid.

Culturally, that would be terrible news, and while I hope you're wrong, I fear you won't be.

[gilesgoat]

Well, coronavirus has likely spelt the end for cinemas. Things have already happened on that front during this pandemic:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/a ... a-releases

Due to the pandemic, Universal Pictures broke the "pact" in which they allow cinemas to screen movies first, before going to streaming services. They simply released "Trolls World Tour" entirely digitally, without bothering with a cinema release at all.

And the big problem for cinemas is that this animated sequel has now made more cash in three weeks than the original movie made in 5 months at the cinemas. Universal "experimented" with this movie and their experiment didn't just succeed, it blew the original movie clean out of the water.

So then Universal said that, actually, even when the pandemic is over, they're going to be doing more of this and announced that their future policy is going to be simultaneous release across all platforms. That cinemas will no longer get movies ahead of other platforms, but will get them at the same time.

In response to this, cinema owners - like the Odeon above - have threatened to boycott Universal completely. Thing is, though, if the success they had with "Troll World Tour" - a sequel doing massively better revenues than the original is unheard of - then Universal simply won't give a shit.

If other movie studios follow suit - because if it works out this well for Universal, they'll all be tempted - then the cinemas are doomed. As they weren't, as you rightly said, doing too brilliantly already before all this, but the pandemic pushed Universal to "experiment" and just release this movie digitally, instead of postponing it (likely because, I mean, it's an animated movie - and a sequel at that - based on the "Trolls" franchise, so this was not so vitally important). And the massive problem for the cinemas is that the movie ended up doing unbelievably well. To the point that Universal felt that, screw it, they're going to break the "tradition" and not give cinemas any favours any more.

If this war escalates - and other studios are tempted to follow Universal, if this works out so well for them - then the cinemas, which were barely alive as it is, might well never come back from this at all, I'm afraid.

As I said I LOVE CINEMA there's NO replacement for the Cinema experience .. BUT .. sometime the experience is not as good as it should be .. sometime the screen is not that good, the audio is awful the movie is so and so.

That "the experiment" worked DOES NOT suprise me at all, I'd say "8 people out of 10" when asked would tell you "sure I love to see that movie but I'll wait until it comes out on Netflix" or shit like that.

What some Cinema SHOULD do IMHO "they should ditch blockbuster stuff" and go into more "Cineforum" and "Indie weird stuff" and specialise in that, I don't think ODEON "has the power to boycott ANYONE",quite the CONTRARY, they have to pray someone gives them movies to show !

Cinema should focus more in "what could be a Cinema experience" that if it turns down to ONLY "see a movie" and "overpaid cinema food" I am afraid they are already all doomed.

IMHO if this goes on probably lot of Cinema will die, place will remain I think only for "specialistic venues" .. maybe a la' ( real ) Grindhouse style and/or they'll need to "create an ambient".

For example there's an ASTONISHING original Art Deco movie in Amsterdam, not sure if it's for adult only, where you can go in and while you watch the movie you can have beer, food, even special seats the whole theater/cinema "from begin to end" is a marvellous experience.

IIRC I think you are even allowed to smoke inside, as long as it's not tobacco because tobacco is banned but weed not ( SERIOUSLY, the ban mentions "tobacco smoking" NOT "else" ) .

But yeah "nowadays there are big 4K screens, home theaters and such" ..

[(o)(o)]

[F-ZeroOne]

Remember, the President only accepts nice questions (and will probably still be mildly racist even then):

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-ca ... y-question

[Harlequin]

Due to the pandemic, Universal Pictures broke the "pact" in which they allow cinemas to screen movies first, before going to streaming services. They simply released "Trolls World Tour" entirely digitally, without bothering with a cinema release at all.
…
So then Universal said that, actually, even when the pandemic is over, they're going to be doing more of this and announced that their future policy is going to be simultaneous release across all platforms. That cinemas will no longer get movies ahead of other platforms, but will get them at the same time.
…
If this war escalates - and other studios are tempted to follow Universal, if this works out so well for them - then the cinemas, which were barely alive as it is, might well never come back from this at all, I'm afraid.

I think you forgot to mention that they still want to use the cinema-first model for their tent-pole blockbuster films. This would not seem to be possible if they let the cinemas go under.

What some Cinema SHOULD do IMHO "they should ditch blockbuster stuff" and go into more "Cineforum" and "Indie weird stuff" and specialise in that, I don't think ODEON "has the power to boycott ANYONE",quite the CONTRARY, they have to pray someone gives them movies to show !

Cinema should focus more in "what could be a Cinema experience" that if it turns down to ONLY "see a movie" and "overpaid cinema food" I am afraid they are already all doomed.

It is apparently those blockbusters, though, that help to finance the smaller films (hence "tent-poles"). As for the overpriced food, like drinks in theatres and many restaurants, they could be operating at a loss without it.

[KlaxonCow]

I think you forgot to mention that they still want to use the cinema-first model for their tent-pole blockbuster films. This would not seem to be possible if they let the cinemas go under.

Well, not quite.

I read an earlier article, before the Odeon and other cinemas responded, where Universal had touted the "simultaneous release" model and made no mention whatsoever that "we absolutely believe i the cinema experience" or anything like that. This has been a later rowing-back in light of their new policy announcement going down like a lead balloon, and being threatened by many cinema chains - not just the Odeon - that they would boycott all Universal releases.

So I didn't forget to mention it, as much as I'm not entirely convinced it's anything but a "deny everything" PR move against the backlash. Because, as you rightly point out, this seems somewhat of an impossibility for them to be "all for the cinema experience", whilst they broke the industry model, without provocation, and gloated about their takings for doing so, announcing that, from now on, cinemas get no preferential treatment. Which will very obviously deeply harm, if not kill off, the cinema experience they now claim to love.


Similar, you know, to how there's talk from the UK government about "winding down the furlough scheme" and "easing the lockdown" but as they get everyone criticising their confusing messaging, the other three nations of the UK flatly refusing to follow suit because they think it's dumb, and so forth, we get silly rowing-back like "stay alert by staying at home as much as possible". And the Sunak extends the furlough to October and, in fact, eases it - rather than scraps it - to allow that, yeah, some part-time work can actually happen on furlough, within certain limits, to help gradually get folks back to work over time.

Basically, they say one thing. Then when the reaction to that thing they said is awful, they pretend they never said it or that their new "stay alert" slogan actually still means "stay at home", and that despite changing the slogan (and even the colour coding for their slogan signage), we're now told that nothing has, in fact, changed. And the "wind down" of furlough has magically transformed into strengthening it to another 5 months.

Modern political nonsense.

Did you know that when President Trump was looking at his medical advisers and asked them if they'd look into whether injecting disinfectant was a good idea, what he was actually doing was being sarcastic, in order to "test" whether the reporters were paying attention?

It's all ridiculous "deny everything" nonsense, even when there's bloody video footage of the thing for everyone to see what happened. No, they say, wild herd immunity was never the plan - except when we all clearly saw them standing at the podiums actually mouthing the words "herd immunity" repeatedly. If you think otherwise then, umm, it must be false memory. And if you're looking at the actual video footage that means it cannot be a false memory then, umm, it must be that China has manipulated the footage. Did we mention China? Look over here at China. They're evil. No, no, don't look behind the curtain to see BoJo pulling the levers to pretend he's a great and powerful wizard. Just look over here at China.

[Harlequin]

I think you forgot to mention that they still want to use the cinema-first model for their tent-pole blockbuster films. This would not seem to be possible if they let the cinemas go under.

Well, not quite.

I read an earlier article, before the Odeon and other cinemas responded, where Universal had touted the "simultaneous release" model and made no mention whatsoever that "we absolutely believe i the cinema experience" or anything like that. This has been a later rowing-back in light of their new policy announcement going down like a lead balloon, and being threatened by many cinema chains - not just the Odeon - that they would boycott all Universal releases.

Curious. I responded based on my memory of that article from the 2nd of March (according to my browser history).

Did you know that when President Trump was looking at his medical advisers and asked them if they'd look into whether injecting disinfectant was a good idea, what he was actually doing was being sarcastic, in order to "test" whether the reporters were paying attention?

I did. I was quite relieved to discover that everything deranged he ever says is some form of "sarcasm" and that nobody should ever believe anything that comes of of his arsmouth.

[VNVObit]

I think you forgot to mention that they still want to use the cinema-first model for their tent-pole blockbuster films. This would not seem to be possible if they let the cinemas go under.

Well, not quite.

I read an earlier article, before the Odeon and other cinemas responded, where Universal had touted the "simultaneous release" model and made no mention whatsoever that "we absolutely believe i the cinema experience" or anything like that. This has been a later rowing-back in light of their new policy announcement going down like a lead balloon, and being threatened by many cinema chains - not just the Odeon - that they would boycott all Universal releases.

Curious. I responded based on my memory of that article from the 2nd of March (according to my browser history).

IIRC the studios get a % of the ticket sales rather than a guaranteed amount so getting a % via a streaming platform would not be much different (and potentially reduce distribution and delivery costs (the cinemas' staff and space).

I suspect cinemas use the blockbusters to get people through the door but make their profit on popcorn and soft drinks ( which are extortionate).

Would miss the big screen experience though find it relatively expensive in the UK (and London in particular - £10 difference in tickets between 2 Vue cinemas for the same show for 2 people !).

[Harlequin]

I suspect cinemas use the blockbusters to get people through the door but make their profit on popcorn and soft drinks ( which are extortionate).

Cinemas, theatres, some restaurants and the like do seem to rely on expensive refreshments to make a profit.

I think that film producers and distributors believe that blockbusters generate more favourable audience reactions if first seen on a big screen as a mass communal experience.


And:

[VNVObit]

oh I love the cinema
When I was single and lived in Dublin I'd go 3 or 4 times a month regularly.

Since moving to London (all those years ago) I went about once a month, when the children arrived it became a rare event or children's special (great value at £5 a ticket). Now only when I'm working from home to pass the evening or occasionally when there's a new Star Wars movie with the children

[merman]

Boris: "we'll detect it in the water supply"


Err, no Boris. What you were briefed with was that scientists were developing a monitoring test for sewage output. That can potentially detect localised increases in infection, which will be used to adjust the regional alert status.

But it's not imminent, and the virus isn't in the water...

[PFVA]

M&Ms and masks, Kit Kats and gloves, Snickers and hand sanitizers

M&Ms and Masks, Kit Kats & Gloves

The covid 19 products have arrived to the machines at the train station in town. And the municipality is distributing the masks to the residents. One envelope per each registered voter. I haven't open mine so i don't know how many there are inside.

I noticed that the sanitizing gel for the hands is made in Italy, the gloves by a company in Holland. At least it's helping the European economy.

For the first time the number of active cases in the country has gone down. From the 234 new cases though the large majority is again in metropolitain area of Lisbon. In this municipality 288 cases total, 11 more than yesterday
.

[SuperMappy]

I'm stuck in my own opinion in that I also enjoy the cinemas here locally, but I have to admit if "No Time to Die" and "Wonder Woman '84" was released direct to home video I wouldn't mind one bit.

[SuperMappy]

https://www.click2houston.com/news/nati ... re-months/

Los Angeles County is telling people they may need to stay home for 3 more months

[tufty]

https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-ri ... avoid-them