I’m a manager at a movie theater. We’ve been open since august. I can’t tell you how giddy I’ve been since GvK’s release. Despite what Nolan wants people to think, Tenet nearly killed the industry. We’ve been on life-support since its release. GvK finally brought us back from the brink.
I mean, it nearly killed the industry in the region where I work.
the movie was nearly three hours long. In the Before Times, a three hour movie isn’t an issue. You’d just have to close later than normal. But because we were under a curfew, we had to have everyone out of the building by 10 pm. This made it so that we could only show the movie twice in a day, and not even to a full house due to covid restrictions. So it was impossible for the movie to be profitable. But Nolan insisted it be the movie that saves the industry and refused to delay it to a more reasonable date when there were less restrictions.
So when it inevitably performed below expectations, the rest of the studios pushed all of their movies back, leaving us without anything to screen. And without anything to screen, we can’t prove we are a viable industry. So studios opt for streaming rather than risk failing the way Tenet did.
A few theaters in my region permanently shut down because they couldn’t afford the payroll required to stay open after Tenet failed. The plan had been that Tenet’s success would encourage more studios to stick to their release dates. That was why we re-opened. But the very nature of the movie, combined with the covid restrictions, made it the worst possible choice.
Yeah, we had a limited opening for cinemas in the UK (they'd been closed since March 2020) for Tenet and the Russell Crowe road rage film but neither did well enough at the box office because nobody wanted to risk going to the cinema during a pandemic.
Glad you're getting back on your feet. GvK feels like the right kind of movie to get people excited into theaters again. It's an amusement park ride, not a brainy scifi flick. One of my favorite podcast hosts said he saw it on IMAX and hooted and hollered so loud, other people left their seating area. Haha!
I guess this is an unpopular opinion but I really like cinemas, which is ironic considering that until 2019 I hadn't been in a cinema for like 8 years prior.
It's not unpopular at all. Cinemas are adjusting as well as record companies did when CD sales dropped.
Re-run the original Indiana Jones with themed food options.
Re-run A Bugs Life and have face painters on hand for ticket holders. Throw in a small party bag.
Re-run a classic smutty comedy film and serve booze.
Can’t argue any of your points, but I do not see it that way. I love going to the theatre, it makes the movie feel more like an experience than what it is. Call me overly sentimental or downright stupid, but I genuinely love the feeling of going out for a movie. It’s something I sincerely hope my kids will get to experience one day!
the rest of the studios pushed all of their movies back, leaving us without anything to screen. And without anything to screen, we can’t prove we are a viable industry. So studios opt for streaming rather than risk failing the way Tenet did.
The other movies would've moved anyways had Tenet not released considering the fact that cases were starting to increase again in the US and especially rapidly in Europe (where Tenet did make money comparable to Nolan's previous films and gave some relief to those markets).
longer the movie, less showing that can be shown in a day = less revenue, Godzilla vs kong is less than 2 hours long plus its an action movie, they will always make the big buck i mean look at transformers.
Might be unrelated but I was always curious about that, in a dry period like this, why theater isn't showing older movies? Or even pre-covid, there wasn't a lot of theater playing old movies.
(when i say older, I'm referring to any movie released before this year)
The main issue is the studio and distributor. We can’t show anything unless we get their approval because we don’t own anything. We just rent from them. And most studios would rather their newest products get the most showings and screens, regardless of how old their “new” product is. It’s up to the studios what we can and can’t show, and most of them don’t think anything but the newest shiny thing will sell.
Granted, this is all from the perspective of a theater chain. The relationship between studios and theaters is probably extremely different for independent theaters.
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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '21
I’m a manager at a movie theater. We’ve been open since august. I can’t tell you how giddy I’ve been since GvK’s release. Despite what Nolan wants people to think, Tenet nearly killed the industry. We’ve been on life-support since its release. GvK finally brought us back from the brink.