And, in the winter, the much smaller local audience wants variety and range – so again when a distributor demands that the Magic Lantern can only have a film either for an uninterrupted week or be forced to wait, sometimes for months after release, that doesn’t help a small local indie to stay open and thrive. When a distributor insists that they play the latest hit film uninterrupted for two weeks, the cinema is not going to get a repeat visit from a family whose holiday coincides with that fortnight.
The Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn, Wales. During the summer, Tywyn is a holiday centre and the Magic Lantern is a rare source of entertainment should the weather be inclement. The big threeĪ few years ago, I spoke to the owner of the Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn on the Welsh coast. However, with smaller exhibitors distributors can impose terms which some cinemas say make it hard for them to survive. Despite that mutual co-dependence, the relationship can be edgy – as with the dispute over windows. With the big cinema chains, there is a balance – even the big three cannot do without Cineworld’s 1000+ screens. This gives the big distributors a deal of power – everyone wants the new Fantastic Beasts or James Bond. In 2019, three distributors (Disney, Universal and Warner Bros) had a market share of just over 64%, with Disney alone responsible for 38%. Increasingly, those “tent-pole” films come from a small number of distributors. For virtually all cinemas, the occasional mainstream biggie is essential to make the sums add up. Travers Lewis/ShutterstockĮven indie art-house venues depend on a combination of left-field successes (think Parasite or Mary Queen of Scots) and the occasional blockbuster. Odeon Cinemas will only open on weekends. The relationship is not always an easy one.
The big chains and the big distributors are co-dependent – the cinemas need the films and the distributors need the cinemas to showcase their product. Relations between film distributors and cinemas can be tricky. This brings into question the effect that COVID-19 is having on the relationships between cinemas, distributors and the audiences they both need. So by any account, this is a significant move.īoth operators cite two linked reasons for their decision: the reluctance of the public to return to cinemas and the absence of the sort of high-profile, blockbuster films which will tempt audiences back. Some commentators have already predicted that this presages the death of cinema.Īccording to the British Film Institute’s (BFI) Statistical Yearbook, Odeon and Cineworld operate just under half of UK cinema screens and account for 48.8% of box office takings. Close on the heels of this came a decision by Odeon cinemas that it would only open its doors at weekends. To add an additional shade of darkness to the current cloud of gloom over the country, cinema operator Cineworld announced that it would be temporarily closing all of its cinemas in the UK.