There’s an interesting article on The Guardian about the future for cinemas. One question is if they will survive if the time from cinema release and DVD launch are cut.
First off, let’s say that as far as Hollywood is concerned the cinema is, largely, a loss leader. It’s like a big advert, maybe an indication of quality control, but they don’t make much money from it, most revenue comes downstream from DVD, rental, TV and other channels.
Part of the reason for that is the cost to distribute the film. Each cinema needs a physical copy of the film (more than one if they’re showing multiple screens). Maybe they’re slowly moving past this, I’m not sure.
What cinemas (and indeed Hollywood) needs to do is embrace digital projection and distribution. It’s been talked about for ages, but the costs to implement are going to be high. The benefits are huge though. Aside from reducing the time and cost to distribute a film, imagine the flexibility it brings.
Cinemas could lay on extra screenings in certain films are filling up while others are empty, they could show films for single screenings or short runs, maybe even offer more, smaller screens where you can pay a bit more to watch whatever film you want at whatever time you want. And that’s just some of the things off the top of my head.
Something the article does miss is that while cinema is (largely) aimed at teens, they want to go out to watch the film, partly because it’s cool and partly to get away from their parents and watch whatever they want to watch, which they can’t at home. It’s escapism in a physical as well as mental sense.
Will cinemas die? No, though they may struggle unless they start to move with the times.
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