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After 'No Time To Die' Postponement, Hundreds of US and UK Movie Theatres Postpone Reopening (hollywoodreporter.com) 69

Posted by EditorDavid from the no-time-to-watch dept.
An anonymous reader quotes the Hollywood Reporter: Following the delay of more Hollywood tentpoles — including James Bond film No Time to Die — mega-movie theater chain Cineworld is planning to keep all of its locations in the U.K. and the U.S. closed for the time being, The Sunday Times reported on Saturday.

The British-based company is the largest circuit in the U.K with more than 120 sites, and the second-largest in North America, where it operates roughly 540 locations under the Regal Cinemas banner. A substantial number of these theaters hadn't yet reopened after forced to go dark because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Across Hollywood, the surprise Saturday-night headline prompted immediate concern that AMC Theatres and Cinemark Theates could soon follow suit.
Variety reports: In the U.K., Cineworld, which declined to comment, is understood to be writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden this weekend to explain that the exhibition sector is "unviable" due to studios delaying tentpoles as a result of anxious audiences steering clear of cinemas amid the global pandemic. The Cineworld closures will put up to 5,500 jobs at risk in the U.K. Sources indicate a reopening date hasn't yet been set, but cinemas could stay closed until 2021....

The delay is major blow to theaters, and there's a chance more could be forced to close given the lack of new content on the horizon. Pixar's "Soul" on Nov. 20 is now the next big movie slated for theatrical release. However, there are rumblings that Disney will move the animated adventure and possibly even put it on Disney Plus, the studio's subscription streaming service. Two Warner Bros. titles, "Wonder Woman 1984" and "Dune," are still set for December, though there's a chance those could be postponed again as well.
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After 'No Time To Die' Postponement, Hundreds of US and UK Movie Theatres Postpone Reopening More

After 'No Time To Die' Postponement, Hundreds of US and UK Movie Theatres Postpone Reopening

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  • New title (Score:5, Funny)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Sunday October 04, 2020 @06:44AM (#60570758)

    Unlimited Time to Kill

    • Sooner or later these movie moguls will be forced to release to streaming. Otherwise their business will be toast.

      • Already toast (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Excelcia ( 906188 ) <slashdot@excelcia.ca> on Sunday October 04, 2020 @08:47AM (#60570902) Homepage Journal

        Their business, as far as I'm concerned, is already toast. I will never pay to see No Time to Die. Their greed in constant postponements of any kind of reasonably good movie is an eye opener. Theatres, in this jurisdiction at least, are open at half capacity and they could release them now. But no, those movies are too good (read too potentially profitable) to do that with, and so we will be held at ransom until they get the capacities they want. That's just unacceptable and I will show my displeasure the only way I can, by voting with my feet. I do not need any movie that much. I, and millions of other people, have rediscovered the enjoyment of simpler things since COVID hit and we just don't need them any more. So they can hold out as long as they want, they aren't getting my money any more.

        • The cutting-edge writers went to video games, and the audience realized that H-wood was out of ideas, and the "magic formula" had started to reveal itself.

          Even more, theaters have become impossible because the audience shouts and checks it cell phones throughout any movie. You are more likely to get knifed for being a Karen if you demand silence than allowed to see a movie in peace, which by the way, is going to cost you close to fifty bucks if you bring a date and get snacks.

          People have moved to having 72"

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Russki3433 ( 7309806 )
            And yet 2019 box office revenue hit historical highs in 2019, the US hit the high in 2018: https://tinyurl.com/y4v55hkm [tinyurl.com]

            Slashdot is not a place where you want to go to for business advice. Stick to IT, kids.
            • The revenue grew internationally, yes, nut how much of that are about new market versus rather than growth into old market ? It seems to me that in EU/US cinema place sales are dipping.

            • However, that's a sign of a dying business, not a thriving one. They always get big before the fall. Remember that 1996 was the biggest year for record company sales ever.

              • Technology (mp3) killed the (extortive) business model for record companies. There is still a music industry; its just not an industry where you can make money by selling physical media, or make "sufficient" profit from advertising over radio. Content creators realize they can make a living doing what they love by touring & merch, and that getting signed by a record label is a ponzi scheme for bankers and middlemen.

                I see the theatre business retrenching after covid passes. But it will never make the

                • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

                  by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 )

                  Not just mp3 but also streaming. And so many streaming sources. it dramatically cut ad revenues.
                  And also competition. The number of bands and musicians in the world is probably 10x what it was in 1960. Producing your own record costs under $500 now with zero media and transportation costs lowering the barrier to entry. it used to be an inflation adjusted $100,000 to produce a record.

                  While I'm at it-- check out "Home Free". They are fantastically talented and fun to listen to.

                  Also...
                  I had no interest

                  • We are not attempting to take over politically neutral communities, but be part of them because we are part of this nation too.

                    Most of my comments are non-political.

                    • Dude, I've seen the playbook. It's an active plan to join a neutral community, then sway the dialogue and radicalize people.
                      It's a shame you are destroying the american dream of fairness and equality for all. And partially under guidance from russian right wing nationalist, racist groups. Your path is as bad as man hating feminists.

                • It peaked and fell off before MP3s were spreading around, in the late 1990s. Something else killed the industry, and my guess is lack of compelling content. It was a market bubble, not a technological one.

            • Yeppir, its the theater experience that they're selling. The movie is _almost_ secondary to going, sitting in the dark uninterrupted, eating popcorn you neither had to make yourself nor clean up after yourself, and see whatever you're watching with your entire peripheral vision filled and when a mortar round lands 50 feet away, it sounds and feels like a mortar round landed 50 feet away (almost... still nobody gets hurt in the movies... )

              But "I see everything that isn't too stupid for words." I have now

          • Same thing is happening to smartphones.

            Get a grip. Smartphones are not going away. They may have merely reached its saturated market for products point.

        • As much as you don't like it they're within their rights to do with their IP as they want. I'd certainly do the same thing: Those are expensive to make films, and even if they weren't , they've the right to try to earn as much money as possible from them and currently it's obviously not the best time to release them on cinemas.
          • You're right, they are entitled to do what they like with their IP, but when the summary says:

            Cineworld, which declined to comment, is understood to be writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden this weekend to explain that the exhibition sector is "unviable"...

            you know Cineworld is going to be holding their hands out for some more taxpayer's money to prop up their failing business model.

            Don't get me started on the massive subsidies the production company will have already been paid to make the movie.

        • That's just unacceptable

          Uh, why? It's not like they're withholding life-saving essentials while they wait for their projected profits to run up. It's a damn movie, and its producers are free to wait for as long as they'd like to release it. It's like complaining that the producers of a family Christmas film might wait until December to release their product instead of releasing it in August when editing is done.

          • "Uh, why? It's not like they're withholding life-saving essentials"

            No, that would be the FDA, slow-walking the vaccine that should be distributed in 2 - 3 weeks when the 1st one is supposed to be available, but they threw up a bunch of brand new red tape to slow it down. Moderna is saying April, now. I may not be able to avoid the damned virus for that long, and at my age, I'm screwed if I get it.

            So that's why people aren't going to the movies, which is why they delayed 007, which is why the theaters ar

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          Simpler things like? :P

      • because teenagers still need something to do on a date.

  • The history of virtual industries (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Applehu Akbar ( 2968043 ) on Sunday October 04, 2020 @06:49AM (#60570768)

    Long before the pandemic, the movie business had been heading virtual for years. Covid just accelerated the process.

    • Long before the pandemic, the movie business had been heading virtual for years.

      Nothing of the sort. Pre-COVID closures there were precisely zero streaming only movies that didn't come from a pure streaming company like Netflix. Not only that, the industry very much was against streaming to the point where they artificially excluded any movie which didn't open in a cinema from awards which led to some interesting fights between Netflix and some of the more traditional companies. At the very most all they have done is reduce the cinema only exclusivity window.

      Anyway I wouldn't read much

  • Use the downtime (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Salo2112 ( 628590 )
    to start working on movies that are not remakes and/or sequels. And if you could scrub the SJW/PC/virtue-signaling elements, that would be nice, too.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by SkonkersBeDonkers ( 6780818 )

      And if you could scrub the SJW/PC/virtue-signaling elements, that would be nice, too.

      Complaining online about PC SJW virtue-signaling is itself a form of PC SJW virtue-signaling, just one meant to appeal to a different subset of the population.

  • Films don't excite me anymore. Same old, same old. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Sunday October 04, 2020 @07:12AM (#60570788)
    I can't help but think that all films have become alike these days. They lack novelty and originality. Usually within the first 10 minutes of a film you can tell which of the seven story archetypes and which of the character archetypes the film is going to be about, and then it's just same 'ol stuff. Boring.

    Seeing the same faces on the screen over and over again doesn't help either.
    Story archetypes: https://www.masterclass.com/ar... [masterclass.com]
    Character archetypes: https://nofilmschool.com/12-ch... [nofilmschool.com]

    • Re:Films don't excite me anymore. Same old, same o (Score:5, Insightful)

      by PsychoSlashDot ( 207849 ) on Sunday October 04, 2020 @07:59AM (#60570828)

      I can't help but think that all films have become alike these days. They lack novelty and originality.

      Same old, same old indeed. You are.

      At some point as you acquire experience in life, new ones become difficult to come by. That's when it's time to seek new presentations. Same story - because there really are a limited number of compelling human interactions - but shown differently. The Matrix wasn't a new story, really. But the presentation was fantastic. Westworld wasn't a new story, really, but the presentation was fantastic.

      I'm an avid reader and I have the same issue. The stories aren't unique but the choice of words to tell them are.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by fenrif ( 991024 )

        And that is the problem.

        Modern cinema has the same story, same presentation, same politics, same themes, same message, same characters.

        Just with a different nostalgic logo from 40 years ago slapped on for window dressing.

        • And that is the problem.

          Modern cinema has the same story, same presentation, same politics, same themes, same message, same characters.

          Just with a different nostalgic logo from 40 years ago slapped on for window dressing.

          No, see, that's just it. It's not modern cinema that has this problem. It's the human condition. There's a reason why basically everything traces down to something like seven main stories. There's a reason why "everything is a derivative of Shakespeare", or re-telling of stories we told around the first campfires. The reason is - as I said - there are a limited number of stories compelling to our species. The recycling isn't modern cinema... it's been going on for tens of thousands of years.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by fenrif ( 991024 )

            You keep talking about stories when I clearly, as you quoted, am talking about much more than that.

            I'm not talking about rehashing narrative archetypes and basic story structure.

            It is not the human condition. It's lazy writing and copy-paste themes and tone.

        • Modern cinema

          You know you could take your comment and just repeat it verbatim in the 80s and it wouldn't be out of place either. This isn't a modern problem. This isn't even a cinema problem.

          Do you know that Shakespeare's The Tempest is the only story that hasn't been traced to some older story, and considered the only story he wrote that is currently considered original?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fenrif ( 991024 )

            No, you could not say taht about the 80s. Sure, there were remakes in the 80s. But Terminator didn't have the exact same characters, same ripped-from-Buffy quirky dialogue, same theme, same politics, etc as Aliens, as Rambo, as Total Recall.

            • No, you could not say taht about the 80s.

              People did actually say that in the 80s.

              But Terminator didn't have the exact same characters

              Neither did Tenet have the same everything as James Bond, MI or The man from UNCLE, did you see that one yet? Are you cherry picking on purpose or just stuck with a serious case of observer bias?

      • There is too much gloom and doom, and super heroe BB. If you are NOT into those, then it isn't a question of becoming old, your taste is simply not catered to. I am a fan of the comedy, sf mixed with comedy genre, hard sf and horror genre. The number of few good of those dropped dramatically, with a lot of redo (ghostbuster, dredd, etc...etc...) and not much really new (like interstellar, inception etc...). If you don't like DC, marvel, and so forth, what was left ? Star wars was... Really down the drain.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

          Dredd was only a redo because Stallone's Dredd was so bad. Basically they did the smart thing and pretended that never happened, and ended up with a pretty entertaining movie.

      • I don't need Bond movies to be 'new', just well presented.

      • A lot of them are cookie-cutter, and some of them aren't. You have to go to all of 'em to find the ones that aren't.

        See "Get Out?" That was seriously "out there," and not cookie cutter. How about "Bad Samaritan?" That wasn't even advertised, was in the theater a week, but was really great. Possibly cookie-cutter, but outstanding, "I Tonya." There's 100's of examples of great flicks that aren't all just the same.

    • I can't help but think that all films have become alike these days.

      Is that because you only ever watch *insert superhero movie here* ? The cinema world is full original and unique movies being released all the time. You just don't see trailers for them during prime time TV adverts.

    • and the bulk of tickets are still bought by the young. Often on dates.

      The industry will bounce back easily enough. Not a 100% (a bunch of older folk, especially the boomers, will get out of the habit of going). But they're not going away.

  • First, they have no time to die (Score:4, Funny)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Sunday October 04, 2020 @08:03AM (#60570834)

    ..and now they do?

  • Bad time to be an exhibitor (Score:3)

    by satsuke ( 263225 ) on Sunday October 04, 2020 @08:04AM (#60570840)

    It is a very fragile -- to -- unworkable time for theaters to operate right now.

    I saw Tenet opening weekend. The theater felt like a Saturday matinee than the opening night of a tentpole film. Maybe 20 people in a theater built for 400.

    Several weeks later, its still the newest thing on offer.

    This is earlier in the summer, but I have seen lots of Ghostbusters/Back to the Future/Star Wars/Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter showings. The problem has become, all the theaters tried playing those .. its the same offering from 3 different movie chains in each of their locations.

    Neither of these is enough "meat" to make enough money to keep the doors open.

    (I don't have a good answer on how to fix it, other than an end to the pandemic).

    • Re:Bad time to be an exhibitor (Score:4, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday October 04, 2020 @08:36AM (#60570884) Homepage Journal

      (I don't have a good answer on how to fix it, other than an end to the pandemic).

      The answer to how to fix these problems, not just for theaters but for everyone, is to have an economic freeze. No rents, no mortgages, no interest, nothing moves on businesses which are shut down. And if you're deprived of income as a result, then nothing is allowed to move on you. If we had been more responsible earlier then it wouldn't be necessary, but we weren't, so it is. People stay home, the government distributes food, and we all get over this a hell of a lot faster. Only true necessities keep going. These necessities vary from place to place, depending on the situation — for example, in California we need to maintain fire evacuation efforts, so businesses that support that need to stay open.

      We're not going to do that, though. Hardcore fuck-you-I've-got-mine-and-I-want-yours-too capitalists won't let it happen.

  • We don't have movie theatres in the UK we have Cinemas.

  • Yeah, this'll continue for a while, and I'll be surprised if movie theaters come back as much of a thing.

    Studios don't want to release their tentpole movies unless they know they can do so in theaters, that the theaters will be packed for weeks, and that they can get lots of first run theater box office money out of it. So long as the theaters aren't running in the way that they did in 2019, they'll hold back the major movies.

    Movie theaters, even if allowed to open, hold no real appeal unless they can show

  • There's this mantra that is getting cornier with each passing week, but it does ring true - the pandemic is accelerating trends.

    The death of the cinema has been 'on the cards' for a decade or more, but it keeps clinging on - there's nostalgia, there's still vested business interest, the economy of it still made sense.

    Now it doesn't.

    For cinema to continue in the way it did, the change is going to have to be profound - and perhaps the only way it can survive, once the pandemic is over, is to almost roll back

  • I wish they could freeze the rent and debt payments for some industries and just allow them to remain closed.

    I love movies in theater. I used to go twice a month.

    But there is *no* way I'm going now and getting covid19. If it doesn't kill me, it could result in amputation of toes or limbs and there is also a good chance (1/12 to 1/10) of long haulers syndrome that would leave me miserable, struggling for to breath, prone to collapsing for several days at a time due to exhaustion. And then there is the p

  • Apparently this postponement was the last straw: Regal Theaters just announced the closing of ALL of its locations, 500+...

    Sad (and directly impacts since Regal runs/ran all of our local theaters...)

    https://www.nj.com/coronavirus... [nj.com]

  • Just end hollyweird..
    Enough of the pedophile worshipping

  • Put it up as a $20 rental or purchase on the Apple / Google / Vudu / Amazon streaming sites and make a shit ton of cash. It'll probably get pirated immediately after but if it's hyped as an event it would still make more money than going the cinematic route.

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