Coronavirus' Effect on the Entertainment Industry

[FrauBlucher]

Here is an interesting read. My job during a Pandemic from a Kino dvd/bluray producer

[MichaelB]

Thanks for that - that was really interesting and chimes with the experience of quite a few industry colleagues.

I’ve worked from home for the past decade so didn’t have to make the same adjustments there, but he’s absolutely right about the creation of extras being seriously impacted. Kier-La Janisse was days away from being filmed for Cisco Pike when lockdown hit, and ended up self-filming her Joy Bang piece on an iPad - although I think it turned out very well. (Good content will always trump slight technical inferiority.)

But it’s not realistic to expect everyone to be able to do that, and interviewing people on camera (who, in the case of people who worked on 1950s/60s/70s films, might be very elderly and Covid-vulnerable) has been a much greater challenge. And even digging material out of archives has been much tougher than before - if it’s already been digitised, there’s no essential difference, but if it has to be sourced from film or tape the process has slowed down considerably.

(This is why the Indicator spine numbers have gone haywire over the last year, because they’re assigned at the time of acquisition and, with a few exceptions, broadly released in the same order. But now, release dates are much more determined by when individual projects can realistically be made ready.)

[dwk]

Eric Skillman tweeted that he is in the hospital with COVID

[Fiery Angel]

Broadway reopened for 36 minutes today

[Monterey Jack]

The $48 milion U.S. gross of Godzilla vs. Kong is certainly an encouraging sign that people DO want to go out and watch movies the way they were meant to be seen.

[Never Cursed]

Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters will not re-open

[Brian C]

That's a shame about Arclight - I've only ever been to their Chicago theater, but I enjoyed going there a lot when it opened back in 2015 or so.

That said, that location was already kind of a white elephant upon opening. It just had regular stadium seating, without the newer recliner seats that dominate new megaplexes today, and even the biggest auditorium had a disappointingly small screen. And it was built in a development that never attracted the restaurant/retail business that was expected, so it sat on the top floor of a mostly empty mall and never seemed as busy as it should have. After the new-theater smell wore off, it was essentially just a typical city megaplex, but with higher prices than anyone else. Their repertory programs never seemed to amount to much and were never as adventurous or compelling as the Siskel or Music Box in town. The only real distinction was the lack of ads and reduced trailers before the show, and an attractive and mostly quiet space.

Then MoviePass came along and Arclight was excluded because of their high prices, so I only went back once or twice after that. Once MoviePass imploded, I replaced it with AMC's subscription plan, which Arclight never even tried to compete with. I don't know if the Chicago location would have made it even without the pandemic - even when I was going there regularly, I was surprised by how often I found myself in sparsely attended prime-time shows for big movies. Maybe their attendance ticked up in the last year pre-COVID but not that I had ever heard.

Anyway, as far as multiplexes go, they still seemed like the good guys. And regardless, it's always sad to see movie theaters go under.

[beamish14]

The Arclight shuttering is a major blow. The Sherman Oaks location and the Cinerama Dome had 70mm capabilities and were just wonderful places to watch films. I worry the dominoes are going to keep falling for L.A. venues and that studios/wealthy benefactors just won't bail them out.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I always had a real distaste for the Arclight. I feel like it set the precedent in Los Angeles that going to the theater is a luxury experience and not an experience to be afforded to everyone. Tickets were prohibitively expensive (and even more expensive on weekends) and I personally recall it being the first of the theaters with arranged seating, something else I really dislike. I much prefer the feeling of theaters like the gorgeous single-screen Vista Theater on the corner of Sunset and Hollywood or the sort of straight ahead, no nonsense at the Laemmle chain of theaters. The only reason I've been to the Arclight in recent years was to see their exclusive 35mm runs (Baby Driver and Uncut Gems, for example) or to see a film released by distributors like A24 or IFC Films before a wide release.

The Cinerama Dome is a recognized landmark and I absolutely doubt it will go anywhere. Arclight squandered the dome in recent years too since stopping their Cinerama throwback festivals, their 35mm revivals and refusing to play The Hateful Eight in that space, the sorts of events that would always draw a sold-out audience. I was also informed by multiple people too that their 70mm projection of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood looked worse than the 35mm presentations of it at the other theaters around town as it would constantly go out of focus and showed some significant damage at points. I love the Dome and will miss that (temporarily) most of all. I still have tremendously happy memories of seeing the 70mm print of The Master and the 70mm blow-up of Inherent Vice opening night and the excitement in the audience.

[beamish14]

I always had a real distaste for the Arclight. I feel like it set the precedent in Los Angeles that going to the theater is a luxury experience and not an experience to be afforded to everyone. Tickets were prohibitively expensive (and even more expensive on weekends) and I personally recall it being the first of the theaters with arranged seating, something else I really dislike. I much prefer the feeling of theaters like the gorgeous single-screen Vista Theater on the corner of Sunset and Hollywood or the sort of straight ahead, no nonsense at the Laemmle chain of theaters. The only reason I've been to the Arclight in recent years was to see their exclusive 35mm runs (Baby Driver and Uncut Gems, for example) or to see a film released by distributors like A24 or IFC Films before a wide release.

I'm definitely with you on the prices. I went to one of those silly 21+ screenings at the Arclight (a non-Dome event), and the bartenders couldn't make drinks if their lives depended on it. The Arclight could be sneaky about which screenings were digital vs. celluloid, and I remember them changing it at the last minute once or twice and not offering a refund (actually, Cinefamily and the Aero did that crap, too).

I started to get into the Vista just before it shut down. I really enjoyed a midnight show of Happiness of the Katakuris they hosted.

[BigMack3000]

I started to get into the Vista just before it shut down. I really enjoyed a midnight show of Happiness of the Katakuris they hosted.

The Vista is gone??? Well, fuck. That, ruined my week. Lived down the street from it for years.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I started to get into the Vista just before it shut down. I really enjoyed a midnight show of Happiness of the Katakuris they hosted.

The Vista is gone??? Well, fuck. That, ruined my week. Lived down the street from it for years.

I think they were referencing it as shut down due to city and state ordinances regarding COVID-19, not permanently. They remain closed, but have signs saying they’ll be reopening soon and seem to have rented the marquee to do Oscar promotion for Mank. The Los Feliz 3 down the street and owned by the same people have temporarily changed the marquee too, but have signs they will reopen. I feel many theaters are still waiting on 100% capacity, which is expected in mid-June. I was told one major repertory theater was holding off on 50% capacity to reopen. The ability to do it happened so soon (two weeks ago), that even they weren’t ready and are perhaps waiting for 100% as well in case there’s a new spike in cases. There’s also the matter that aside from King Kong vs. Godzilla and the upcoming Cruella, there aren’t many films until Summer that would fill the seats for a still cautious crowd.

[willoneill]

Some actual good news on the independent cinema front: one Ottawa's two independent theatres, The Bytowne, that had been shuttered due to the pandemic, has been sold and the new owners will be running it as an independent cinema again once COVID restrictions lift in Ottawa.

[Monterey Jack]

Huge, $57 million opening for A Quiet Place Part II, and a decent $27 mil bow for Cruella (which would have been far more were it not also on Disney+). Things are looking up.

[therewillbeblus]

Glad for Cruella, hopefully it gains the appreciation it deserves from fans if not critics. Gillespie continues to prove that he can make anything great

[knives]

Though as someone sitting in an empty theater right now things are definitely not back to normal.

[therewillbeblus]

I mean, sure, the rollout will be slow, but it sounds like you're at an early matinee on Memorial Day weekend and considering that an indicative condition for assessment. I've been in empty theatres on opening night Fridays at the biggest theatres in my area pre-pandemic, it happens

[Monterey Jack]

I mean, sure, the rollout will be slow, but it sounds like you're at an early matinee on Memorial Day weekend and considering that an indicative condition for assessment. I've been in empty theatres on opening night Fridays at the biggest theatres in my area pre-pandemic, it happens

Exactly. I've always gravitated toward the earliest matinees possible, and have often found myself as one of a handful of patrons at a variety of opening-day screenings (or sometimes literally the only person there), and often for movies that became substantial box office earners. I saw A Quiet Place Part II at a 3:10 PM matinee, and there was a row of maybe four or five people behind me (and all keeping respectfully mute, aside from some soft gasps at appropriate times). The only times I have ever been in a near-sellout crowd on an early opening-day matinee have been for things like The Force Awakens.

[Aunt Peg]

I've been sitting in mainly empty cinemas since they re-opened last July. A number of film festival screenings have had really good crowds but general releases have been generally flat. But lots of films at festivals screening are scantly attended, particularly during the day. I was shocked the I'm Your Man had less than a dozen people last week at the German Film Festival. And though the French Film Festival which ran all March was reasonably well attended over all and soon as some of the films went into general release they pretty much all flopped with the exception of Antoinette dans les Cévennes which has proven to have good 'legs'.

[spoink47]

That's a shame about Arclight - I've only ever been to their Chicago theater, but I enjoyed going there a lot when it opened back in 2015 or so.

That said, that location was already kind of a white elephant upon opening. It just had regular stadium seating, without the newer recliner seats that dominate new megaplexes today, and even the biggest auditorium had a disappointingly small screen. And it was built in a development that never attracted the restaurant/retail business that was expected, so it sat on the top floor of a mostly empty mall and never seemed as busy as it should have. After the new-theater smell wore off, it was essentially just a typical city megaplex, but with higher prices than anyone else. Their repertory programs never seemed to amount to much and were never as adventurous or compelling as the Siskel or Music Box in town. The only real distinction was the lack of ads and reduced trailers before the show, and an attractive and mostly quiet space.

Then MoviePass came along and Arclight was excluded because of their high prices, so I only went back once or twice after that. Once MoviePass imploded, I replaced it with AMC's subscription plan, which Arclight never even tried to compete with. I don't know if the Chicago location would have made it even without the pandemic - even when I was going there regularly, I was surprised by how often I found myself in sparsely attended prime-time shows for big movies. Maybe their attendance ticked up in the last year pre-COVID but not that I had ever heard.

Anyway, as far as multiplexes go, they still seemed like the good guys. And regardless, it's always sad to see movie theaters go under.

And I don't get it why they don't include Arclight in the MoviePass?

[therewillbeblus]

Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over hybrid streaming release, claims loss of potential salary profits hinged on box-office performance

I wonder how many more of these are coming

[Finch]

Hopefully so many more and successful ones that Disney thinks twice before trying to screw their talent over.

[Monterey Jack]

Studios should STOP with the "in theaters and on [streaming service]" shit. The major reasons that movie theaters survived up until the Pandemic era despite encroaching threats from TV, cable, DVD, streaming and the like is precisely because the Big Guns could only be seen in theaters for several months before coming home. You release a big, splashy blockbuster at home immediately, it just feel like TV writ large. Movies need that window of theater-only exclusivity in order to feel like (in the words of Vin Diesel) "Da moviezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz".

[domino harvey]

Emma Stone weighing legal options now as well

[Finch]

Gerald Butler's sued Millennium for missing out on some profits from the Has Fallen films.