Here’s an interesting and optimistic take on the future of cinema-going in the UK.
“The boss of one of the UK's biggest cinema chains says he does not see streaming services and home entertainment as competition.
Tim Richards, the founder and chief executive of Vue International, says film studios tried to "circumvent" cinemas during the pandemic but lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" as a result.”
VUE Cinema in the UK has entered into the distribution space as well, so it will be interesting to see how this affects the opportunities for indie producers with original IP.
What are your thoughts about this? Is his optimism misplaced?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c986d9jjv87o?app-referrer=deep-link
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I think streaming services and home entertainment are competition for theaters, Geoff Hall. So are social media, video games, etc. Someone's trying to get a customer's attention and money.
I do think different mediums and services need each other though, like Tim Richards said "I think the studios certainly learned that we are in one small ecosystem, we all need each other." Like studios and production companies using YouTube to promote their films, and studios and companies streaming their movies on YouTube.
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Geoff Hall I agree with Tim Richards. Theatrical, as a brick-and-mortar experience is entirely different from streaming. His observations are correct, they complement each other in fact. That is the reason the MPA now essentially controls both. Theatrical no longer generates enough revenue to pay off a film in it's first couple weeks, but that wasn't a thing until the studios maneuvered to have simultaneous wide release. Theatrical generates invaluable word-of-mouth for the streaming releases. That is one reason independent films are denied access by the system. In other words, theatrical and streaming complement each other. He does repeat the cinema industry whining about losing money though, and that's not true. Theater owners, IMO ARE NOT ON THE FILM INDUSTRY. They are by definition landlords, investors in real estate who, in this case, rent out rooms with screens for short-term tenants. The IPG did a recent study on profitability in theatrical from 1950 to 2025, in real dollars. It reveals that while theatrical is down to about 40% attendance from its height.it remains very favorably profitable as an industry (of landlords). Theatrical is NOT going away, so long as there are films that want to get into them. Another note - Richards said his company is going into distribution. Which in the US may have run afoul of the Paramount Decrees, which the DOJ set aside in 2020. That, IMO sounds good for Vue, but reveals how industry cartels develop and expand.
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Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg thanks Shadow. I think his perspective is UK centric, however it is interesting to see Vue Cinemas move into the UK distribution space with the intent of giving indie producers with their original IP, a window of opportunity.