By Nicole Rees-Williams
Artwork by Mike Simon on Unsplash
Cinemas in England were supposed to open on the 4th of July after months of darkened screens and empty seats, but many have decided otherwise.
There were plenty of big blockbusters to look forward to this year, such as the next Bond franchise instalment No Time To Die, Christopher NolanÔÇÖs Tenet, and Wonder Woman 1984 to name a few. But these big blockbusters keep getting pushed back. Tenet, which was scheduled for release on July 17th has now been pushed back to August. Wonder Woman, which was originally pushed back to August, has been pushed even further back to October. No Time To Die, which was originally scheduled for release in April, will not be in cinemas until early November. So, with no blockbusters, who will be going to the cinema? And what is being shown instead?
Some cinemas, such as the Odeon in ManchesterÔÇÖs Trafford Centre, are screening releases from earlier this year such as Birds of Prey and Bad Boys for Life. But they are also screening older classics such as Batman Begins and Back to the Future. However, with the easy access to streaming services, many people would choose the safety of their own homes to view older releases rather than risk contamination in cinemas, lowering the number of cinemagoers.
Some filmmakers have caught on to the benefit of streaming services and have taken advantage of its popularity during lockdown. This was the case for the release of Hamilton on Disney+, which was originally slated for a cinema release in 2021, and PixarÔÇÖs Onward to Amazon Prime, which had a short run of screenings in March before the UKÔÇÖs lockdown.
Despite concerns surrounding COVID-19 and the accessibility of streaming, in France, cinemas had an extremely successful re-opening with over one million tickets purchased in the first nine days ÔÇô even with social distancing measures put in place. So, it is evident that people do miss that atmosphere that you can only get in the cinemas.
Amongst discussion of films going straight to streaming, director Patty Jenkins explained that she would not be making this choice with Wonder Woman 1984. She tweeted that,
ÔÇÿwe made Wonder Woman for the big screen and I believe in the power of cinema.ÔÇÖ
Jenkins has a point; some films are just meant to be seen in the cinema. I certainly wouldnÔÇÖt have had the same experience watching films such as Avengers: Endgame in my living room that I had in the cinema, and this could be the case for many of 2020ÔÇÖs pushed back blockbusters. The cinema is a place for film-lovers to fully immerse themselves in new releases without the distractions of the home environment such as a knock on the door, frequent pausing for toilet breaks and a parent undoubtedly asking, ÔÇÿwhatÔÇÖs going on?ÔÇÖ┬á
But cinemas cannot run successfully without blockbusters. And the makers of blockbusters donÔÇÖt want to release their films until enough people are going to cinemas to see it. So who will make the first move? The future of cinema is uncertain, but it is definitely evident that the cinema experience is thoroughly missed.