Cinemas are extortionate, writes MATTHEW BOND – especially when most of us can just stream the films at home
The coming week is a huge one for the future of the cinema industry – a major test of whether audiences who fell out of the habit of going to the movies during lockdown will return.
Few could blame them if they decided not to.
With the cost of a typical family outing having gone beyond £100 – during a cost-of-living crisis – it’s getting out of reach for most people.
Add in the fact that most new movies swiftly become available via an online streaming service (where there is a massive choice of other films anyway), and many families will question whether those exorbitant ticket prices can be justified.
That’s why so much now hangs on the performance of ‘Barbenheimer’ – as the joint release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has been termed.
The coming week is a huge one for the future of the cinema industry
That’s why so much now hangs on the performance of ‘Barbenheimer’ – as the joint release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has been termed
Both were released in cinemas on Friday, joining Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One.
The consensus among industry experts is that if these much-hyped blockbusters can’t lure audiences, the sector is in big trouble.
It’s by no means a guarantee that they will attract people to cinemas. The revival of Indiana Jones, starring the hugely popular Harrison Ford in The Dial Of Destiny, failed to meet expectations.
However, if any film-makers can bring audiences back, it’s Nolan and Cruise.
Both are passionate advocates of the idea that big films should be seen on big screens, not on televisions at home.
Cruise is famous for performing his own spectacular stunts, while Nolan is renowned for his authentic staging of big action sequences live rather than relying on computer-generated visual effects.
I certainly hope this pair of titans succeed. But I have concerns.
Oppenheimer, for instance – the story of ‘the father of the atomic bomb’, J Robert Oppenheimer – is very, very good, but it’s also serious, wordy and three hours long.
Barbie, by contrast, is frothy, pink and a lot of deceptively clever fun, but it may struggle to attract couples or a male audience.
Even Tom Cruise will not be able to stop his latest epic from running out of steam eventually.
The UK cinema industry desperately needs a hero. Let’s just hope it finds one – and fast.
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