With the reopening of cinemas in most states of India, Asian movie lovers will witness the return of the much anticipated movie releases on the big screen, that were previously pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic.
Cinema theatres in India and overseas markets popular for Indian movie releases, are anticipating heavy footfall during the Diwali weekend, which falls on 4 November 2021, for the line-up includes both regional and big-ticket titles.
From Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, Rajinikanth’s Tamil movie Annaatthe and more, here is a comprehensive list of Asian movie releases over the remainder of 2021:
Star (Malayalam)
Synopsis: Prithviraj plays Dr Derrick who tries to unearth the mystery in the story. The mystery of star – the Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation.
Release Date: 28 October 2021
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Joju George and Sheelu Abraham
Sooryavanshi (Hindi)
Synopsis: Sooryavanshi traces the acts and serious antics of DCP Veer Sooryavanshi, the chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad in India.
Release Date: 4 November 2021
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh
Annaatthe (Tamil)
Synopsis: Directed by Siruthai Siva, Annaatthe is a rural action-entertainer with Rajinikanth playing the role of a village headman.
Release Date: 4 November 2021
Cast: Rajinikanth, Nayanthara, Prakash Raj and Keerthy Suresh
Bunty Aur Babli 2 (Hindi)
Synopsis: Bunty and Babli are forced out of retirement after a spate of robberies with their trademark sigil start appearing across India.
Release Date: 18 November 2021
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji and Pankaj Tripathi
Satyameva Jayate 2 (Hindi)
Synopsis: Revolves around the fight against injustice and misuse of power. From police and politicians to industrialists and a common man, the film will explore corruption in all spheres.
Release Date: 25 November 2021
Cast: John Abraham, Divya Khosla Kumar and Anup Soni
Maanaadu (Tamil)
Synopsis: On the day of a public conference by the state’s Chief Minister, his bodyguard and a police officer are stuck in a time loop.
Release Date: 25 November 2021
Cast: T.R. Silambarasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan and S.J. Suryah
83 (Hindi)
Synopsis: The story of India’s incredible cricket World Cup victory in 1983. The World Cup that taught India to win.
Release Date: 23 November 2021
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Tahir Raj Bhasin
Pushpa: The Rise (Telugu)
Synopsis: Based on the smuggling of red sandal trees in Seshachalam forest|
Release Date: 23 December 2021
Cast: Allu Arjun, Fahadh Faasil and Rashmika Mandanna
Jersey (Hindi)
Synopsis: The about a thirty six year old cricketer who stopped his cricketing career ten years ago, and now aiming to return to the Indian Cricket team to realize his son’s dream and to prove his ability
Release Date: 30 December 2021
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Mrunal Thakur and Palak Singh
*Movie release dates are subject to change
Advertisers… here’s your chance to target Asian audiences in the lead up to Diwali and over the rest of Q4 2021. Mark your calendars and contact us to plan your cinema advertising campaigns alongside these Asian movie releases.
Sources: IMDB and VOX Cinemas movie release schedule
Saudi Arabia celebrated its 91st National Day (also known as Al-Yaom-ul-Watany) on 23rd September 2021, commemorating the birth of the modern Saudi nation.
This year’s theme and slogan was ‘Heya Lana Dar’, which means ‘A Home for Us’ – appreciating the spirit of the country’s cultural diversity that makes everyone (Saudis and foreigners) feel at home.
To honour and celebrate the transformative journey the country has embarked on over the past 91 years, leading brands in Saudi Arabia launched cinema campaigns across the country:
Saudia
The national airline of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched its national day cinema campaign emphasizing the spirit of being a Saudi national and its prosperity through generations.
Commercial Duration: 60 sec.
Campaign Duration: 21 – 24 September 2021
Locations: VOX Cinemas (Riyadh Front and Red Sea Mall), Muvi Cinemas (Nakheel Mall and Mall of Dhahran), AMC Cinemas – Stars Avenue and Cinépolis Cinemas – Lulu Mall
STC
Saudi Telecom Company launched its cinema campaign that parades the evolution of digital life in the kingdom.
Commercial Duration: 90 sec.
Campaign Duration: 23 – 25 September 2021
Locations: VOX Cinemas (Riyadh Park Mall and Red Sea Mall), AMC Cinemas – Panorama, Muvi Cinemas (Mall of Arabia and Nakheel Mall) and Cinépolis Cinemas – Lulu Mall
Banque Saudi Fransi
The Saudi based banking group’s national day campaign celebrates the vision and achievement of Saudi Arabia as a nation in various sectors.
Commercial Duration: 30 sec.
Campaign Duration: 21 – 27 September 2021
Locations: VOX Cinemas (Riyadh Park Mall, Kingdom Tower, Riyadh Front and Red Sea Mall), AMC Cinemas (Panorama and Riyadh Gallery) and Muvi Cinemas (Nakheel Mall Riyadh, U Walk, Mall of Arabia, Nakheel Mall Dammam and Mall of Dhahran)
Tamimi Markets
One of the fastest-growing supermarket chains in Saudi Arabia booked an ad to commemorate the Kingdom’s prosperity and greatness.
Commercial Duration: 15 sec.
Campaign Duration: 22 – 28 September 2021
Locations: 25 locations covering multiple VOX, Muvi, AMC and Cinépolis cinema locations
The General Presidency for the affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque
The government agency launched its campaign welcoming pilgrims and aiming to facilitate worshipers to perform the religious worship at the grand mosques with a prompt for being dutiful and generous in the times of the pandemic.
Commercial Duration: 60 sec.
Campaign Duration: 23 – 25 September 2021
Locations: VOX Cinemas – Town Square, Muvi Cinemas – Nakheel Mall in Dammam and AMC Cinemas – Azizia Plaza
With National Days of Oman (18th November), UAE (2nd December), Bahrain (16th December) and Qatar (18th December) around the corner, contact a member of our sales team for more information on cinema advertising opportunities to mark these special days!
A big congratulations out to the winner of the MVM ‘Spot the Difference’ challenge: Cristina Oanes from C2 Communications.
Having successfully spotted the five difference between the two images, Cristina won 2 x VOX Cinemas movie passes to watch a movie of her preference.
Below are the five differences between the two images:
Thank you to all who participated, and stay tuned for future Motivate Val Morgan competitions!
Ahead of LIONS Live (22-26 June, 2020), Cannes Lions has launched the Young Lions Live Award. The global challenge gives creatives from 18-30 years old the chance to answer a brief from humanitarian organisation, the United Nations World Food Programme.
The brief calls on extraordinary young talent for creative ideas to help rebalance the food waste-starvation equation.
Participants will have until 14 June to enter their work. Entries will be judged by Cannes Lions jurors and winners, announced on 26 June, will receive a complimentary pass to Cannes Lions 2021.
In partnership with humanitarian organisation, the UNWFP, our brief calls for creative ideas that can help to rebalance the waste-starvation equation –encouraging people to waste less food and contributing to ending world hunger at the same time.
The briefing pack is now available and you’ll have up until 14 June to create a 90 second film and a 500 word description explaining your idea. Please note both must be in English though your film can be subtitled.
The competition is open to individuals or teams of two and you must be aged between 18-30 years old. Please note you will be required to supply proof of age when registering. Winners receive complimentary passes to Cannes Lions 2021.
Click here to download briefing pack
When will the winner(s) be announced?
On Friday 26 June as part of Lions Live, we will announce the winner(s) to the world.
What is the deadline to submit my entry?
You must submit your entry no later than midnight in your country on 14 June
Can I have a deadline extension?
Unfortunately no deadline extensions will be granted.
Can I enter more than once?
Yes but each entry must be unique.
Does my video need to be 90 seconds?
Your entry can be less than 90 seconds but it should not exceed 90 seconds in length.
What kind of video should I produce?
Judges are looking for a 90-second or less case film, describing your idea and detailing how any online executions could work. Your film can include visual or design elements and, if a TV spot or online video is part of your idea, you can include that, too.
What should the 500 word description include?
Creative idea or insight
Description of the strategy, target audience, planning and approach
Explanation of implementation, integration, timeline and scale
How much does it cost to enter?
Nothing. There is no fee!
Am I eligible to enter?
Anyone aged between 18-30 can enter. You might be a student, working as a creative in an agency, a brand marketer, a coder, an artist etc etc. Everyone is welcome providing you are born on or after Jun 27, 1989.
Click here to enter.
Source: Cannes Lions
The Global Lions Creativity Report will celebrate sustained creative success
Winners will be announced throughout the week of LIONS Live
Cannes Lions has announced that it will release a Global Lions Creativity Report of the Decade in June to celebrate and recognise sustained creative success.
It is the first time in Cannes Lions’ history that data from across ten years will be used to compile a global rankings and benchmarking report. The winners will be announced throughout the week of LIONS Live, 22-26 June, with acceptance speeches and reels of work screened live to the world through the platform.
About the report, Simon Cook, Managing Director, Cannes Lions, said: “Every year, our global juries only award around 3% of entries, which means if you win a Lion – whatever the metal – it’s recognition of truly game-changing, creative excellence. This first of its kind report will recognise and celebrate those that have performed to that level, consistently, over the last decade. It will celebrate a body of work that has made the recipients the most creative companies in the world. We hope the report will also serve as a valuable and inspiring learning resource and clearly show what sustained creative success looks like.”
The Global Lions Creativity Report of the Decade will announce winners in the following categories:
The report is being produced together with Cannes Lions’ sister company, WARC, who will provide editorial commentary and insights on the rankings. The full report will be made available to everyone after the results have been announced at LIONS Live, the new digital experience and platform for the creative community.
LIONS Live will unite the world’s global creative community with a free agenda of live-streamed and on-demand content running from 22-26 June.
Click here for further information on LIONS Live.
Source: Cannes Lions (Press Release)
Lions Live is a digital education platform to support the creative community
Cannes Lions has introduced ‘Lions Live’, a digital education, inspiration and networking experience that will run throughout June under the theme ‘Creativity Matters’. Activity will build to a peak during the original dates of the Festival of Creativity, 22-26 June.
Lions Live will comprise masterclasses and hangouts with creative industry legends, lectures from experts, talks from speakers confirmed for the Festival, and a selection of the most impactful professional classes and learning modules from the world of creativity, effectiveness and marketing. The platform will also feature Future Gazers – a collection of industry experts who will assess how Covid-19 has transformed the way the industry will need to approach Cannes Lions’ already-announced 2020 themes. It will also showcase the best of the hundreds of responses to the current crisis from the global creative community currently being shared on the newly-launched Creativity Moves us Forward platform. Access to Lions Live: Creativity Matters will be free of charge to all.
The Work – the subscription-only archive of more than 200,000 Lions campaigns and 1,600 Festival talks – will be made freely accessible to all throughout the original Festival week, providing access to case studies and inspiration to help fuel ideas and creativity. Additionally, during June anyone will be able to access a specially curated course of lessons taken from the Cannes Lions masterclass series on 42courses.com. This will include lessons from the likes of Rei Inamoto, Keith Reinhard and Debbi Vandeven, on topics such as Creative Effectiveness, Strategy, Storytelling, Behavioural Science and Digital Marketing. Meanwhile, Cannes Lions’ sister companies MediaLink and WARC will also be bringing their Cannes activities to life, with a virtual MediaLink networking beach, and lessons on the very best effectiveness strategies from around the world presented by WARC.
Simon Cook, Managing Director of Cannes Lions, said “In order to drive progress through creativity, and support our community at this difficult time, we want to provide the global industry with the opportunity to learn and network throughout June and beyond. For the first time in nearly 70 years, we are unable to bring the industry together in one physical place in June. Lions Live: Creativity Matters will provide a virtual platform for the industry to collaborate, learn and problem-solve, because now more than ever, creativity really does matter.”
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE.
A feature on research conducted by Kantar
Living through the recent lockdown, citizens are starting to realise what they are missing. As Boris Yeltsin said in 2003, “We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.” So, what are people most looking forward to doing after COVID-19?
Kantar applied human and artificial intelligence to social media conversations around COVID-19 to identify what people are most looking-forward to doing after lockdown.
You would think that seeing friends and family would be the most anticipated activity people are looking forward to. It is in some respect, with hanging out and doing things with our friends and family present in 10 out of the top 12 activities they identified. Going to visit, see and spend time with family and friends is also a category in its own right. However, it is not the top one. Here is Kantar’s count-down of post COVID’s most wanted activities.
1.Pampering
What people want to do after lockdown is get some beauty therapy. This includes going to the barber, salon, getting our hair cut / dyed, having our nails or eyebrows done. As one user aptly summarised “my eyebrows and nails have gone rogue”. So, if you own a hairdressing business or beauty salon, prepare for a boom in business once quarantine is over. We might also expect to see an increase in demand for beauty and make-up products. For brands looking to reconnect with consumers it is going to be about demonstrating the value of the brand experience.
2.Eating Out
“First thing I’m doing when this quarantine is over is going out to eat!!”
Many people want to head straight to their favourite restaurant and feast on their favourite food. The meals people seem to be looking forward to most are Sushi, Mexican, Steaks, Ribs, Seafood and Pizza. Some of the comments combined eating out with catching a movie. People are also looking forward to take-away food.
3.A Night Out
Clubs, pubs and alcoholic drinks brands will be pleased to hear that a night out is high on list of post-COVID activities. This could be on a date or with friends, but for many it means having a post COVID-19 party.
4.Festival and gigs
With festival season almost upon us, but with all the main events cancelled, it’s no wonder that the public craves live music. Experiencing one’s favourite band live again is high on the priority list. Some are already considering booking tickets and looking forward to tours. Expect any live shows and performances to be sold out, quickly.
5.No changes
Staying at home suits some people just fine. They quite enjoy being alone, reading, watching Netflix or playing video games and seem to be enjoying the same thing during the lockdown as they would normally do… and will do the same after.
6.The Outdoors
Going to the beach and enjoying the experience is among the activities consumers crave, including reconnecting with nature. After one week, the thought of a prolonged quarantine is already giving these people itchy feet. Beaches, national parks, and mountain resorts/lodges be prepared for many people taking road trips to escape the confines of their city abodes.
7.Retail therapy
Online shopping is still possible but not quite scratching the itch. The thought of shopping in retail outlets, trying on and buying new outfits, is far more appealing. This is good news for high street fashion retailers with some of the sensory experience of traditional shopping being essential to fashion-conscious consumers.
8.Travel
After just a week, people are already starting to think about their next vacation. Many just want to jump on plane or book a flight with no specific destination in mind. It is too early to say, but airlines could expect significant bounce back as desire for an escape, anywhere, will lead to heightened demand. Some people are already booking trips, giving them something to look forward to.
9. Sporting events
Watching or playing sport is also top of the list for some people. With loyal fan bases, most sports will undoubtedly experience a bounce back. What will be interesting is what the impact of COVID-19 has on sports participation. Time will tell if the quarantine has motivated more people to take up a sport. Some people also just want to get back to their routines, go to work or go to the gym.. the things we perhaps took for granted.
One thing is for sure: social media posts strongly indicate an inherent desire for social interaction. While people are resorting to video conference and video calling apps, it is clear that social interactions are a key priority.
As we likely near the end of lockdown, the marketing and communication industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create engaging, entertaining, brand-building and above all memorable content. The challenge will be to strike the right balance and stand out.
Source – Kantar (What are people looking forward to most, post-pandemic?)
A feature by Kaleem Aftab as published in BBC (Culture).
Theatres are closing around the world. Jobs are being culled. No one knows when projectors will be fired up again. Cinema is far from unique in being an industry under threat in the time of COVID-19. But there is a particular irony in the fact that many of us have turned to streaming platforms to deliver entertainment to fill the long hours of isolation, often watching content originally made for the silver screen. Audiences have increasingly been consuming more films at home anyway, of course. But now that trend has become a fact of life, many are questioning whether the culture of cinemagoing will resume in the same way once the pandemic abates.
The evidence from China doesn’t bode well. In recent years, China has posted huge box-office figures. In February 2019, Chinese audiences spent $1.63 billion on tickets, a record for a single month anywhere in the world. The contrast to February 2020 could not be greater.
A staff member sprays disinfectant at a Shenyang cinema on 25 March. Photograph Credits – AFP via Getty Images
Chinese theatres shuttered when the virus hit. In mid-March, an attempt to tentatively start opening cinemas again after the easing of the lockdown saw distributors refuse to release new films and audiences stay at home. Already, the almost 500 cinemas that tried to open have shut down again after receiving a letter from the government. Cinema-goers argued that it was too soon to open auditoriums and it was safer to watch films at home, especially when no vaccine for Covid-19 exists.
The situation is bad all over. In the UK, the popular Tyneside Cinema has started a donation campaign to ensure that it will be able to open its doors again. In New York, the world-famous Lincoln Center, home to the New York Film Festival, is one of many to serve redundancy notices as it faces a financial battle to keep going.
Compounding the misery for cinema owners is the fact that film studios have responded by putting films only very recently released in cinemas online. Last week, Disney made Pixar animation Onward available to rent on video-on-demand services, just over a month after its US premiere, while Universal have similarly uploaded The Invisible Man and The Hunt. And the same thing is happening with key indie films too: recent Berlin Film Festival award-winner Never Rarely Sometimes Always has also made the leap to streaming just a couple of weeks after its US opening. The consequence of all this is that studios may wonder why they’re sharing revenue with exhibitors if they can get a bigger cut by going straight to homes.
Indeed, while cinemas are on their knees, streaming platforms are profiting. Demand for home entertainment is so high that services such as Netflix and Disney + have announced they will reduce their picture quality in order to cut the data going to our homes by 25% so that the internet doesn’t get bottlenecked, slowing download speeds to a standstill.
But before we start imagining the liquidation signs going up at our local picture houses, it’s important to remember and celebrate how cinema has weathered societal storms throughout its history. Proclamations on the demise of the cinema have been a regular occurrence through the decades. And yet in 2019, the global box-office revenues from cinema were higher than ever.
How cinemas dealt with a past pandemic
A century ago, there was even the worry, as there is now, that cinemas would be permanently shut down by a virus. From 1918 to 1920, the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ took the lives of 50 million people worldwide, coming right at the end of World War One, where 40 million died. When the flu hit, cinemas closed around the globe, although not quite in the same blanket way that they have today, with the decision on whether to close or not made by municipal governments in most countries.
The Invisible Man (Image Credits – Universal Pictures)
Orders to close cinemas didn’t come lightly and proved controversial in places like the United Kingdom. Indeed as film historian Lawrence Napper notes, during World War One “for most of the time, they were open and very popular”.
The British government saw cinema as an essential tool for public well-being. “Cinema was the major leisure activity – it kept people occupied, and it helped keep them calm. It also kept them out of the pubs!” says Napper. “Drunkenness was a major issue for the authorities. But also cinemas became a key site for propaganda and a key point of contact between the individual, the local community and the national war effort.”
There was no single moment during the flu outbreak when all the cinemas in the UK shut, and some jurisdictions simply imposed mitigating measures. In London, cinemas were required to be ventilated for 30 minutes every three hours. Those in Wolverhampton banned children and removed carpets. A Walsall cinema showed a 15-minute public information film that featured a Dr Wise and a foolish patient. The advantage of this piecemeal localised policy-making for the industry was that, with films struck onto celluloid prints, and canisters moving from cinema to cinema, movies could shift around to areas that did not have restrictions in place.
Mirroring some of the debates being had today, about balancing the economic impact against the cost of lives, some cinemas owners complained about closing, Napper explains. “There are a lot of letters to the trade press from cinema managers saying the closing of cinemas because of the flu is nonsense, [and asking] ‘What about sporting events and factories? Why should it be cinemas that take the financial hit?’”
Cinemas were encouraged to open around Armistice Day, however, and a week of packed cinemas and celebrations followed – apart from in Edinburgh where influenza restrictions were kept in force. The film journal Kineweekly reported from the city that “there was a feeling that it was the hardest of hard luck that what should have been a record week was one of several which will rank as one of the most disastrous in the history of every house.”
Likewise, in the US, the closing of cinemas because of the flu happened on a regional basis. Critically, the home of the studios, Los Angeles, was severely affected and cinemas in California closed for seven weeks. Production companies withheld new releases and Hollywood studios stopped making movies in this period.
However, it should give us cheer to note that while the film industry in America was certainly impacted, it did not suffer overall but rather changed shape – and in fact flourished even further. As the film writer Richard Brody recently noted in an article for the New Yorker drawing parallels between now and then: “Many smaller companies went out of business, and the resulting shakeout led to a consolidation that made the big ones bigger, creating the studios that became the masters of production, distribution, and exhibition together; the flu, combined with the end of the war, gave rise to the mega-Hollywood that’s being duplicated again today.”
And with this organisational change, audiences only increased – in fact, attendances in the 1930s were higher than in any decade before or since. After The Great Depression of 1929, movies played a critical role in keeping people entertained. It was one of the few affordable means of escape. By numbers of attendees, 1939’s Gone With the Wind remains the most successful cinema release of all time.
World War Two was also, against the odds, a time in which cinema prospered. Many countries, including Britain, saw the cinema as a propaganda tool: a place to give information and boost morale, despite the obvious perils of congregating in public spaces. British cinemas closed for a week at the start of the war before reopening to much fanfare. “Cinema was a site for community activity [and] raising money for charity, [as well as a way for those abroad] to make contact with those at home,” says Napper.
The threat of television
The caveat to looking back at how cinema weathered turbulent historical times is that this all happened before television became ubiquitous. From the 1950s, cinemas didn’t have a monopoly on audio-visual entertainment. Governments also could now channel news directly into people’s homes, so cinema became less important as a propaganda tool. (The current epidemic has seen such dissemination of public information taken a step further with text messages sent straight to mobile phones.)
Television was the new game in town – it was also free to watch after the initial outlay, and creatives and producers suddenly became enamoured by the small box.
In Britain and the US, cinema admission figures have never been higher than in the year 1946, but after that, audience numbers dropped off steeply year by year. Both the McCarthy witch hunt of the early 1950s outing so-called communist sympathisers making movies, and the end of the Hays Code controlling sex and violence, meant that the cinema was suddenly perceived as a less wholesome, more morally tainted space, while television was deemed a safer experience. Meanwhile those in the industry themselves started lamenting the death of cinema as an artform. Legendary producer David O Selznick argued in 1951 that “Hollywood’s like Egypt, full of crumbled pyramids. It’ll never come back.”
The invention of VHS tapes was seen as a danger to cinemas, but in fact it only served to enhance the value of the big-screen experience – Image by Alamy
But cinema was far from down and out. Rather, it was revitalised in the 1970s with the arrival of the summer blockbuster: the very thing that to some represented the ultimate desecration of cinema as an artform, but which reversed the decline in audience numbers. From Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) onwards, blanket releases with mass-marketing became increasingly prevalent.
Then in the 1980s came another even more direct challenge to auditoriums. If television had wounded the size of audiences, it was thought that videotapes might steal them away completely. Invented in 1976, the VHS cassette tape (which quickly usurped its Betamax rival) made films available to own at home, or as more commonly occurred, to rent from video stores. No longer was the cinema the only game in town for cinephiles.
In fact, though, this rival medium served only to enhance the value of the cinema experience. Even though Quentin Tarantino has called the 1980s the worst era in American movies, national box-office returns almost doubled in that decade. Rather than being the death of cinema, video meant film studios had a whole new revenue stream to capitalise on, while home ownership only increased consumers’ passion for film, therefore making them hungrier to see new films from their favourite directors on the big screen. Cinema owners in turn came up with the cleaner and more modern ‘multiplex venues’. The industry rallied.
But if history would show that the cinema slayed the video, as one foe vanished, a new monster emerged for it to do battle with – streaming platforms. In the last few years, the likes of Netflix and Amazon have struck a double blow because at the same time as these companies have offered access to more and more films from the sofa, the original small-screen content they have served up has become ever better and more expensively produced. In 2015, Dustin Hoffman, one of the most celebrated movie stars of all-time, said “I think right now television is the best that it’s ever been and I think that it’s the worst that film has ever been – in the 50 years that I’ve been doing it, it’s the worst.”
Then, adding further peril for movie theatres, Netflix has increasingly lured in big-name directors like Martin Scorsese and Noah Baumbach to make feature-length work for them – but refused to play by the old rules and respect the so-called ‘theatrical window’, which gave cinemas exclusive screening rights to a film for a period of months before its home release.
Pre-pandemic, there were already signs that the culture of cinemagoing was starting to crack under this pressure. In 2018, the average price of an admission ticket in the United Kingdom went down for the first time in decades. The price fell again in 2019. And while overall box-office figures climbed, a smaller pool of films, mostly involving comic-book superheroes, were making the tills ring, and fewer studios were making all the money. Disney made over $11 billion in 2019, but small distributors have been struggling to survive, not helped by the fact that the bigger studios have started to open up their own streaming platforms, monopolising the ancillary market as well.
The new normal
However in the new Coronavirus-afflicted world, the battle with streaming platforms seems like relatively small fry. Since the coronavirus has spread across the world over the last couple of months, cinemas have closed, not in the patchy, ad-hoc fashion of 1918, but all at once.
Productions around the world have stopped shooting. Film Festivals have announced postponements and cancellations. The Fast and the Furious, sprinted to a 2021 release date, while the new James Bond film No Time To Die has been pushed back to November, and Black Widow has been delayed indefinitely. The livelihoods of millions around the globe have been threatened, by a collapse, not just of cinema, but of the industry itself. If cinemas are only closed for seven weeks as they were in Los Angeles in 1918, it would seem like a miracle. Some may never open again. Are we living out the text at the end of Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1968): the fin… du cinema?
The level of the crisis and uncertainty facing the whole industry means it is difficult to contemplate the future at this moment in time, says Adeline Fontan Tessaur, the co-founder of French sales agent Elle Driver. “How can we anticipate anything and make definitive declarations? It’s way too early. We are trying right now to protect our industries. Everyone in the field is trying to anticipate the future and its damages. Of course, whether it’s productions, festivals, sales, or distributors, everything is on hold until we get more news. What happens is beyond one specific industry. We will have to adapt like everyone to this new world. Step by step.”
The effect of the virus has already been to make things that seemed unimaginable a month ago a reality. Hollywood studios have joined Netflix in breaking the theatrical window. Cannes has been postponed. Film festivals such as CPH:DOX and Visions du Reel are going online, with audiences watching premieres in the comfort of their own home. Arguments about the primacy of cinema have been rendered meaningless by the necessity to simply keep people watching.
And given that blockbusters rely on huge marketing campaigns, it’s unlikely that studios will want to take an immediate risk with their bigger titles when cinemas do eventually re-open – before they are sure if audiences are ready to embrace cinema again.
“There’s no doubt [the virus] is a huge challenge that affects all elements of the industry from development and production through to distribution and exhibition,” says Curzon CEO Philip Knatchbull, who runs a chain of cinemas in the UK as well as overseeing the Artificial Eye distribution label. “The immediate problem of course is weathering the financial impact of the loss of box office. When cinemas reopen there will be all sorts of challenges right along the supply chain, some of which won’t be immediately obvious right now.”
Why we shouldn’t despair
Cinemas are in a fight for their lives. The consequences of the current situation could be a wholesale shift in attitudes to streaming platforms and theatrical windows. Curzon had already moved to a day-and-date, simultaneous cinema and on-demand release model before the outbreak. “The theatrical v streaming debate has been very heated in recent years,” says Knatchbull. “There has been lots of speculation recently about how lockdown will impact on viewing habits. I don’t think that’s especially useful; this is a completely unprecedented and, hopefully, unique situation. That said, now is probably not the time for this discussion. Exhibitors and distributors need to work together creatively to see us through this period.”
But for all the sense of impending doom, history suggests that cinema will adapt and bounce back. Crowds flocked to the cinema after the 1918 pandemic, and videos only made people more interested in cinema, not less. After several weeks or, more likely, months cooped up indoors, watching films on our television sets and computer, the experience of seeing a film in cinemas the way they were meant to be seen will be all the more magical. It’s impossible for a home screening to match the technical quality of a film projected in the cinema – and there is also the indefinable adrenaline rush that comes from viewing a film in a large group, with audiences feeding off each other to create an intoxicating atmosphere as Bond gives chase, Daniel Blake starts protesting or Marcello Mastroianni raises an eyebrow. By the same token, most directors would continue to affirm that they first and foremost want their films seen in a cinema because it’s a unique experience.
Other reasons to be cheerful include the fact the overall global box office has only been rising recently, while the record-breaking box office of Oscar-winner Parasite in western countries shows how cinema has also been becoming a truly more globalised enterprise. What’s more, when it comes to movie theatres themselves, they have been getting more luxurious yet again of late, in a progression akin to the advent of the multiplexes.
Knatchbull agrees that cinema will find a way, as it has done throughout history, to thrive again. “Of course! Cinema has survived wars, pandemics and a host of technological changes. There is something elemental about gathering together in a dark room to watch a great film. I’m sure the reopening of cinemas will be a cause for a huge celebration and we’ll see audiences, desperate to get out of the house, flocking back to watch films on the big screen together.”
Source – BBC Culture (Why cinemas will bounce back from the Coronavirus crisis)
A feature on cinema post-pandemic by Jim Amos, as published on Celluloid Junkie.
It hasn’t been a pleasant two months for the movie industry, as moviegoing has been completely upended, along with the rest of the entertainment sector, by the coronavirus. With rare exception: Tenet, Mulan, Wonder Woman 1984, to name a few, most summer tentpoles have shifted to later in 2020 or early 2021 and there is lingering doubt in what numbers moviegoers will return to cinemas when we start to get the “all clear” sign by governments from around the world.
But here’s the good news. We are starting to see faint signs of hope on the horizon. The fact that studios are keeping their July and August releases on the schedule shows that they believe that moviegoing should be in a relatively fortuitous place by mid-late summer. Many ‘pundits’ who follow the film business are highly skeptical that films such as Tenet or Mulan will make their summer release dates but when you think about it there’s actually good reason for that glimmer of hope.
First, we have a population that has been sequestered in their homes and, gulp, hanging out with their families, for weeks now and are undoubtedly dying to get out to do something. Anything. People may not be ready to congregate with 80,000 of their closest friends at college football games or at stadium rock concerts but they may be more willing to head to movie theaters with 80-100 other people, especially if in-cinema social distancing measures remain in place or there is the available option to attend matinee shows which theoretically should have fewer patrons in attendance.
There is also the issue of ticket prices. Fans of concerts and live theater are undoubtedly going to be leery of dropping $100-200 for an upcoming show if there’s a chance that the virus returns in the fall or winter, as some predict, and events are once again canceled or postponed. It’s one thing to spend $10 for a movie ticket. It’s quite another to plunk down a rent payment for tickets to a concert that may not happen and if today’s cancelation clarification from Ticketmaster is any indication, concertgoers shouldn’t be looking to the ticketing giant for any kind of financial consideration.
‘Meet me at the multiplex.’ “WW84” – “Wonder Woman 1984” (Image Credits – WB)
The other thing to keep in mind is that a large percentage of people who buy tickets to shows and sporting events end up buying them ticket resale outlets at greatly inflated prices. Good luck getting your money back on those.
So yes, the movie industry as a whole, and the cinema industry specifically, are in very difficult straits. Some cinemas – large and small, are debating whether they’ll have the available cash to reopen. Those who do, however, might very well find themselves on the front line as the population starts to “toe dip” into the world of OOHE, or out of home entertainment. And studios are in a unique position where they can pivot quickly and actually move their release schedules forward if patrons start returning to cinemas in greater numbers than expected. Sporting events, concerts, live shows and the like don’t have that flexibility.
In addition, the move of tentpoles back to later in the year should provide independent studios such as Lionsgate, Focus, STX, and others the opportunity to grab summer playtime — albeit somewhat muted playtime — that they might not have enjoyed previously if the rest of the industry takes more of a wait-and-see approach.
Yes, there is a chance that moviegoers return slowly to cinemas but content consumers who are tired of streaming, terrestrial TV and their relatives could be salivating for any new content and their best bet would be a return to movie theaters. That doesn’t just apply to feature films but also to event cinema productions which may provide fans the opportunity to see concerts, filmed performances or events such as The Met opera, which they have been shut out of while they shelter in place, and at a fraction of the price. For fans of the band, Coldplay on screen is better than no Coldplay at all.
Not streaming to a device near you. “Tenet” – Only in Cinemas. (Image Credits – WB)
As well, this might also be the perfect time for studios and cinemas to come together on variable pricing plans. Luring moviegoers back to theaters with two-for-one deals or different levels of pricing for different films could be a welcome tonic for movie fans who might still be hesitant to return to cinemas or have been hard hit financially by COVID-19 yet still need a “night out” that won’t break the bank. Try getting that by buying a ticket to an Ed Sheeran concert or an Arsenal match.
The cinema industry hasn’t been a pretty sight these past several weeks and though we’ve seen articles galore about the plight of cinema chains we seem to have lost sight of the impact that coronavirus has had on individual movie theater workers, those employees who give up their Friday and Saturday nights, all for a poverty-level USD $15 an hour (if they’re lucky). Even if there’s precious little to play, cinemas will want to get their theaters open as quickly as it is safe to do so for several reasons, not the least of which is to rehire their workers in some form or fashion.
The good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the movie industry is in a unique position to hold the lantern. There are still difficult times ahead but at least there is a path of opportunity that most other entertainment sectors simply don’t have.
See you at the movies. Hopefully soon.
Source – Celluloid Junkie (When We Return To “Normal,” the First Stop May Be The Movie Theatre)
As published in Digital Cinema Report.
ScreenX, the innovative 270-degree panoramic movie-going format by CJ 4DPlex was awarded Gold in the Media, Visual Communications & Entertainment category at this year’s Edison Awards.
“We are incredibly honored to be receiving recognition from the Edison Awards for ScreenX,” said CJ 4DPlex CEO JongRyul Kim. “In the last few years, ScreenX has grown exponentially in footprint and content, screening more than 12 Hollywood films a year and reaching new heights of innovation to a wider global audience. We thank our partners in the exhibition and studio space and the entire global ScreenX team across offices in Seoul, Beijing and Los Angeles for their hard work and efforts.”
Among the entries from some of the best products, services, and businesses in innovation for the year 2020, the innovative cinema format was chosen as a winner by a panel of more than 3,000 leading business executives from around the world. “After a thorough review, the Edison Awards judges recognize ScreenX as a game-changing innovation standing out among the best new products and services launched in their category,” said Frank Bonafilia, Executive Director of the Edison Awards.
ScreenX is the world’s first multi-projection theatre technology that allows a 270-degree panoramic movie watching experience, allowing the audience to go beyond the frame of the traditional movie screen, utilizing a proprietary system to expand the center screen image to the side walls, surrounding audiences with imagery and providing a sense of being inside the movie. To date, the format is available in 326 auditoriums and 36 countries worldwide.
Motivate Val Morgan represents two cinema chains in the Middle East offering the Screen X experience – Reel Cinemas (The Dubai Mall) and Muvi Cinemas (Mall of Arabia and U Walk).
Source – Digital Cinema Report
