Cineworld cinemas to file for bankruptcy.

you can get 2 Odeon tickets for a tenner or 5 for 22 via Groupon.

TV was having a very bad effect on cinema in the 60's and 70's too. So the studios had to up their game. They did so by making their movies more violent, sexy, and realistic. Gone were various cinematic tropes and trappings of previous years and they were willing to take a punt on untried "mavericks", like Spielberg, Scorsese or Coppola. What resulted was the greatest decade of cinema that's ever been. The likes of 'Taxi Driver' would never have been made in the 60's. And something like 'The Godfather' would have been rendered quaint because of the preceding standards of the time. Unfortunately it also resulted in the mega blockbuster in the shape of 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars' which got studios in a kerching frenzy that still lasts to this day, even if they are great movies in their own right.

Problem is, today, studios have nowhere to go really and the current (dreadful) superhero tranche of insipid fare could well be the last hurrah. They can't up the content ante in the way that they could in the late 60's/70's and TV has rolled back many of its own restrictions on what can be shown, so the studios are in a very bad position indeed. This is only going to get worse if the likes of Netflix quit throwing their money at rubbish and put a better focus on quality.

As an addendum, I'll include the fact that one can wait a few weeks and see any film that they didn't bother going to see in the pictures. A few decades ago, you saw a film in the cinema because you weren't going to be seeing it any time soon on the tele. It could be up to 5 years before a film got to TV. These days movies are released everywhere, almost at once. And then they're on a streaming option in a very short period too. Whereas I remember the days when a movie released in America could sometimes take up to a year to hit cinema screens over this side of the pond.

There's just no longevity of market for films these days and everything has to be made back in a relatively short space of time. Hence, you have studios concentrating largely on big mega budget mega blockbusters for the most part.

yes but how many people are going to watch the more interesting stuff in the cinema at €12 a ticket, when they can wait a few weeks and watch at home on their 50-inch 4k screen with dolby soundbar. As Tony EH says above, only the big budget spectaculars really make sense on the cinema screen these days and there's not much the studios can do to bring back the audiences for the less noisy releases.

Well the marketing people have done a brilliant job of convincing people that big blockbusters are better in the cinema, theirs also the fact that many blockbusters in the past were much better suited to the big screen.

If independent films are better suited to the cinema then that's on the producer and the cinemas to find a way to convince more people of this.

The Stella experience shows a route other cinemas could try or more could be done to develop film clubs as a way of trying to get groups of people chatting online about the latest independent film so that some will meet to watch the film or try to persuade their own friends to go with them.

Yes the likes of the IFI is a really nice cinema but the fact is people have busy lives and have loads of free or cheap content at home, most viewers won't leave their house unless they are given a very good reason to do so.

I doubt they would be allowed to. HBO issued a cease and desist letter a few years ago to a pub for doing that: https://www.businessinsider.com/hbo-tells-bar-to-stop-showing-got-2015-4?r=US&IR=T

The biggest problem cinemas have at the moment is their lack of movies. From this article: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/03/how-the-summer-box-office-sizzled-then-fizzled-in-charts.html:

'Over the summer, just 22 films were launched in theaters, down 47.6% compared to 2019, Comscore data shows. And this is a trend that’s been seen all year long. From January to the end of August in 2019, Hollywood released 75 films in cinemas. In 2022, so far, it’s only released 46.'

Disney in particular is terrified of releasing something that might flop in cinemas (and probably won't release a Pixar movie in cinemas after Lightyear flop) and released 50% less movies this summer. So straight to Disney+ for Turning Red, Prey and Pinocchio.

The more you turn movies away from cinemas, you convince audiences that everything bar horror, the occasional musical or $200-300m blockbusters are worthy of a cinema trip. It's no surprise that Lightyear flopped after the three previous Pixar movies (Luca, Soul and Turning Red) all went straight to Disney+ - audiences hadn't been trained to expect that. That's also why romantic comedies, comedies in general and mid-budget thrillers are streaming-only with few exceptions.

All good points. I think the real war the studios are fighting now is the streaming wars, particularly in USA and Netflix has migrated away from good movies to exclusive TV series as then they lock in the viewers & monthly streaming recurring revenue even if series 5 is rubbish.

Just before COVID was a streaming money bonanza with all the streaming platforms throwing money at any idea, however crazy in order to have content some of which they hoped might be a cheap hit.

Disney overtakes Netflix in race for subscribers was in the August news and I expect Netflix is running at a loss in many countries. Even Sky was buying the rights to all good movies trying to hurt other streamers. The Irish are in an unusual position where we have access to all USA, most UK and all Irish content, much of which is subsidised by USA or UK audiences, so quality is high and cost is low.

Back to cinemas I think they have always been an under 30 years of age market, but much of that age group get plenty of content with netflix. I know the cinema is more seen as a cheap night out, but typically I prefer my warm home, big TV, soundbar and a fridge stocked with alcohol, and where I can pause the film to go to the toilet or the fridge. I am walking distance to a cinema and I can't see myself going. The last film I saw was the bond film more as a group activity than expecting the cinema to be better. Every time someone coughed everyone gasped and looked! It was noisy, not super comfortable and a pain to all arrive for a fixed start time.

Dont get me wrong, I used to go to cinema about once a month 20 years ago and I really enjoyed the variety and creativity and quality of the film's and I love Irish made films.