In his acceptance speech for Best Director at this year’s Academy Awards, Anora director Sean Baker made a plea to everyone listening to save the movie-going experience.
“Movie theaters, especially independently owned theaters, are struggling, and it’s up to us to support them,” he said. “During the pandemic, we lost nearly 1000 screens in the U.S. And we continue to lose them regularly. If we don’t reverse this trend, we’ll be losing a vital part of our culture.”
I agree with him wholeheartedly, both as a film lover and as someone who works in an industry where better versions of movie theaters are regularly created in private homes.
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The film-love part is obvious — the commercial theater experience lets you fully immerse yourself in the storytelling, no matter if it’s a large-scale, sci-fi spectacular or an independent human drama. It is a place to retreat from the outside world for a couple of hours and enter a new one. I don’t want to get all Nicole Kidman here, but she has a point.
For our industry, a robust commercial cinema environment opens the doors to more opportunities. If the client loves going to the movies, then they will be very open to the idea of a personal one at home — especially when they discover it can be an even better experience.
When theaters up their game, so do we — bigger screens, Dolby Atmos immersive sound, ridiculously comfortable furniture, starry ceilings… Anything they can do, we can do better.
But we need theaters around to light that spark and give them something to compare it to. Plus, we have already seen that the younger generation is content to watch films on their phones with earbuds. That is a crime for many, many reasons, but it is especially worrying when you think that in a relatively short time, they will be our customers. That video wall may be a hard sell to a person who watched all the Marvel movies on an iPhone.
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I suspect that there are many in this industry who found their way to custom installation through a love of film and movie theaters. If theaters remain, then there will be a continuous flow of those inspired to work in our industry and re-create what they love for clients.
With Kaleidescape now being used in commercial theaters — including Alamo Drafthouse, B&B Theatres, Brenden Theatres, Cinema West, Classic Cinemas, Epic Theatres, Megaplex Theatres, and Star Cinema Grill — it may be a fun promotion to bring clients and prospective clients out to a rented theater to show them a great night at the movies…and tell them how they can bring an even better experience home.
