On the 5th March, authorities announced that New York City cinemas could reopen.
The current rules limit capacity to 25%, or fewer than 50 people per screen. Others regulations include compulsory mask wearing, social distancing and enhanced air filtration systems. As this industry reopens its doors to audiences, the question stands on whether people will choose to attend.
The industry has been dramatically hit by the pandemic and its implications, with cinemas around the world being forced to close. The sudden and intense pressure has forced multiple smaller cinemas to shut their doors for good, leading to many being out of business completely and bankruptcy for others. Box office sales plummeted by more than 70% across the world last year, and more than 80% in the US and Canada, reported as the biggest market in the world.
Since New York Cinemas have been given the green light to run at slightly less capacity, it’s been debated whether audiences will stay away in favour of home entertainments – a result of increased streaming platforms over lockdown – and due to potential concern over the health risks of visiting the cinema. But Deadline report that over the first weekend of opening, the box office took in more than $1 million. It is possible that since Covid-19 cases in the US are dropping and the vaccination programme is in place and continuing with promise, audiences are more at ease and excited to return to the big screens. Even so, in other cities traffic remains considerably low, down 90% or more compared to before the pandemic, and studies report that 53% of respondents feel cinemas are “very or somewhat” safe. The Mayor himself announced he will be taking the “wait and see” approach.
Now New York has opened its doors after nearly a year of remaining closed, those in the industry are hoping that Los Angeles will follow suit and film studios can put a stop to postponing big film releases that are a huge attraction for audience members. It’d be unrealistic to expect instant rebound, running at less capacity than before the pandemic, but the cinema operators are hoping for audiences to continue attending.
Paul Serwitz, President of cinema chain ‘Landmark Theatres’ in New York says “The hope is to start driving businesses and to get people back in the habit of enjoying the experience and realising that it’s safe. Keeping our losses to a minimum until business conditions allow for a more sustainable operation.” He adds “I have hopes that by the time we get to mid-to late-spring, we will see a different reality.”
In Britain, those out of work in the industry are hoping for a similar trajectory after Boris Johnson’s roadmap reveal. According to Johnson, the aim is for cinemas to reopen on the 17th May at the earliest, in step three of his roadmap for easing restrictions and eventually getting the country out of lockdown and back to a sense of normality. This step provides for ‘indoor meetings under the rule of six’ and will include cinemas alongside restaurants, pubs, theatres, hotel, concert halls and sport stadiums – with limited capacity.
Similarly to the rest of the world, the UK lockdown has resulted in many Brits making drastic changes in order to become accustomed to a new way of living for what was proposed to the nation as the foreseeable future. The measures enforced brought about a surge in TV watching and online streaming. During the first lockdown alone, OfCom reported that an estimated twelve million UK adults adopted a new video streaming system and spent an average of 40% of their day watching these services, while Netflix experienced an increase of 15 million paid subscribers.
As a consequence, those within the cinema industry have concerns on what impact this will have for them. They worry that the availability of streaming services and their increased demand will undermine the potential for a post-pandemic box office revival. Adam Aron, Chief Executive of AMC and owner of UK’s Odeon says he would “aggressively pursue economic terms that preserve our business,” in reference to a Warner Bros’ move whereby all 17 new films to be released this year will stream on its HBO Max Service for the first month while premiering in cinemas. They announced that the decision is a one year plan, with David Hancock, cinema research director at intelligence firm Omdia acknowledging that, “[the plan] isn’t going to kill our theatres, so I wouldn’t say it’s the death of movie theatre but it isn’t helpful.”
Despite the panic amongst production, Hancock remains positive yet realistic: “There are enough films to keep people in cinemas, the movie experience is strong and powerful enough, but if the plan went beyond a year and simultaneous streaming with big screen premieres become the norm, cinema owners would probably have to look at closing sites. They would have to adjust to demand.”
But “adjusting to demand” doesn’t mean an end to cinema completely. Cinema finances have suffered immeasurably over the course of the pandemic, with Cineworld securing financial lifelines worth £560 million. Almost £1 billion has been wiped from UK box offices, but cinemas continue to fight for reopening.
Prior to England’s third lockdown, Tim Richards, founder and chief executive of Vue, said, “We will keep going as the vaccine comes out and are hoping not to face closure again now. Cinema is going to return to normal.”
Now that hope is in sight for the 17th of May, many will be concurring with what Richards said back in December, patiently waiting to return to work. For audiences and the business itself, it’s unknown if cinema’s popularity will return to what it was pre-pandemic, but many will agree that there is something you can get from the cinema that you can’t from home. Particularly when we’re out of lockdown, there’ll be no greater feeling than watching on the big screen.
Danielle Saunders
Featured image courtesy of Christof Timmermann via Flickr. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.