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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 4, 2020 18:11:24 GMT
Wasn't planning to go to the cinema this week, but after the news that there may be another 3-4-month drought I indulged in viewing number 2 of Bill & Ted and viewing number 3 of New Mutants today. I don't know what I was expecting, but all the staff were as friendly, professional and motivated as normal. They hadn't messed with the trailer reels, so they are still showing the joyful 'Cinema is back!' montages and the James Bond 'In cinemas November' trailer before the main feature.  And they haven't disabled advance bookings for this week and future events on the website yet. Martin |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 4, 2020 21:17:13 GMT
Well apparently staff weren't told before the news leaked. Awful.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Oct 5, 2020 12:49:31 GMT
I saw Jurassic Park on Saturday night at the local Vue!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Oct 6, 2020 12:29:08 GMT
Cineworld writes to its customers:
Martin
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Post by Bogatan on Dec 11, 2020 23:06:39 GMT
These series look good but I can and will wait for them to become available on shiny disc. Very determined not to give any money or support to streaming services that undermine the cinema industry by releasing feature films before or at the same time as their theatrical release. Martin Are Disney doing that? I didn't see any clear statement to that effect, but there was so much info released overnight I could easily have missed it. |
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Dec 11, 2020 23:14:35 GMT
It's not been announced, but I can see it happening at some point.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 12, 2020 2:00:34 GMT
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Stomski
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!! But don't worry. It won't happen again.
Posts: 6,120
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Post by Stomski on Dec 12, 2020 8:08:47 GMT
I feel we need a separate thread, but the technology for film distribution and ways that people consume it is very different to that of the last century.
Like many businesses that evolved under a very different world, it's unfortunate but times change.
But considering how much Disney did for cinemas over the last decade I'm not sure they can complain. Imagine what state the industry would have been in without Star Wars or Marvel?
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 12, 2020 10:45:09 GMT
But considering how much Disney did for cinemas over the last decade I'm not sure they can complain. They have all the cause in the world to complain. Technology evolving over time is one thing, but the studios stabbing the industry in the back when it's already face down on the floor due to Covid is quite another. This is the one year the cinemas needed the studios to stay loyal to them. Those franchises aren't down to Disney. Disney just acquired them. And those kind of films are surely best seen first on big screens. Anyway, previous generations of a company - or country - doing good in the past doesn't give a later generation a free pass to do something destructive. I'm not singling Disney out. I won't be supporting any service that bypasses cinemas with stuff that was originally planned for the big screen. Martin |
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 12, 2020 10:45:51 GMT
This is due to a pandemic, when most cinemas in the US including their two biggest domestic markets are shuttered and with the ones that are open hit by low attendance as people don't want too die. Studios need to make *some* money back on their films. This strategy is fine given the context. I wouldn't want it to be a norm, post-covid vaccines though. -Ralph |
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 12, 2020 10:48:42 GMT
It's not been announced, but I can see it happening at some point. Disney has to a small extent. Warner Bros are dumping their whole 2021 slate on HBO Max in the US same days as in cimemas. -Ralph |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 12, 2020 10:51:38 GMT
The pandemic has also screwed up the shooting schedule for new films. If all the films shot before Covid get released online during Covid, what new films will be ready for immediate release to support the recovery of cinemas when they reopen? Not enough. I'm sorry, but it makes me very cross.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 12, 2020 11:07:10 GMT
At the end of the day, movie making is a business. Studios have to make money back on movies so they stay in business and can make more. Studios, even giant ones like Disney are in a very precarious situation. They bumped films back to late 2020, which meant they lost a lot of money (MGM is losing a million dollars A DAY on interest payments for each day the new Bond is delayed, for example*). There have been mass layoffs, even at Disney. Some studies hedged their bets a bit more and bounced their big films in 2021 in the hope the Covid situation will have calmed down. They also lost a lot of money marketing films that they then had to pull. As an aside, Wonder Woman 1984 was shot two years ago and was already delayed from 2019 before covid delayed it further several times in 2020. The director and star were given ten million dollars apiece (reported at Variety) to agree to it going on HBO Max.
What has happened, however, is that in late 2020 the Covid situation in the US has deteriorated rapidly (3000 deaths a day, highest death rate and infection rate in the world) and the country is now at the worst time of their pandemic. The two major markets for films in the US (New York and LA) have been shut since Spring and are unlikely to open any time soon. Vaccines are only just starting to be approved over there. Realistically, the movie theatre business is unlikely to get going again in earnest until Summer 2021 by the earliest. There may also be a delay in many audiences rushing back to theatres. There's an economic depression. There is fear of being in enclosed spaces from sections of the public.
So if you are running a studio in these circumstances, what do you do? Hold on to your products you've already delayed for the marketplace for perhaps up to another year and go out of business or do you try to get some money back?
I'm in a huge cinema fan. It's one of my main hobbies. I don't like that films are going to streaming at the moment or going to streaming day and date with cinemas, but I can understand it given the unprecedented mitigating circumstances**.
On a slight tangent, I won't be going to a cinema until I get a vaccine. I don't care what they're showing. The risk of death or long-covid means I'm quite happy sitting on my couch watching movies for now.
-Ralph
*Source: Variety
** Though Warner Bros made a problem for themselves with their recent decision, ie not informing talent involved in their 2021 slate before making a press announcement.
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 14, 2020 12:50:58 GMT
Tenet blu-ray has arrived. I look forward to finally seeing it at some point over Chrimbo.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 16, 2020 18:03:53 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 23, 2021 11:26:35 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 23, 2021 11:47:15 GMT
This is good news. Hopefully the Cineworld in the area will be viable enough to be re-opened (it had just had a refurb done before the first lockdown) Alas, I am not setting foot in a cinema until 3 weeks after my second covid jab and as I have no idea when my first one will be it will probably be September or October before I can go to one. Hopefully in time for Bond though it means I will miss the summer fare, alas.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 4, 2021 11:47:06 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on May 4, 2021 12:03:36 GMT
Ralph gets 2nd jab in July so hopes to be back in the cinema in August (if all goes well).
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on May 18, 2021 20:58:55 GMT
I look forward to (hopefully) returning to cinemas in August.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 27, 2021 22:52:06 GMT
Had my second jab early so need to give it a couple of weeks to get the efficacy but hopefully mid-July I can return to the cinema after 18 months. After the last 18 months all I want to see on a big screen is spectacle. No proper dramas. Nothing thought provoking.
Will ease myself back in with early morning mostly empty screens. Just a couple of weeks...
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 6, 2021 10:16:43 GMT
Signed up for Cineworld Unlimited though it won't recognise my temp card number yet for booking. Maybe it isn't activated until dispatched.
Hopefully soon I return to stalk the fleapit once more...
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 6, 2021 21:45:37 GMT
Booked for Fast and Furious 9 on Saturday morning!
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 9, 2021 21:34:22 GMT
Booked for Fast and Furious 9 on Saturday morning! -Ralph Cancelled booking and cancelled Cineworld card. With projections of daily infections being around 50,000 within a week and 100,000 a day after July 19th (higher than at any previous point in the UK's situation) there is no way I am getting into an enclosed room with the lights off with folk not wearing masks. It's too frightening. It's also a sure way to get pinged by test and trace and then it's 10 days stuck inside the house again. -Ralph |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jul 10, 2021 5:45:47 GMT
Cancelled booking and cancelled Cineworld card. I'm very sorry to hear it.  I've felt unsafe in terms of risk of Covid infection in many places during the pandemic (generally cramped and overcrowded places), but never in the cinema, which has been one of my mental health lifelines. However, if you know you would feel unsafe there, it would defeat the point of it (i.e. enjoyment) to go. Martin |
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Post by The Doctor on Jul 10, 2021 9:17:11 GMT
Johnson's 'Freedom Day' announcement has been the big game changer. Previously, I was hitting 'full vaccination' status today so could start to venture out more but now the situation will be infinitely more dangerous after July 19th. Not going inside ANYWHERE when infections are so high.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 29, 2021 17:32:38 GMT
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Sept 29, 2021 17:40:03 GMT
I hope to see the new Bond in the cinema but like the expert says here, I'll wait until the end of the run when the theatres are empty! Or you can go at a day and time of day when the cinema's mostly empty. I'm going during school hours on Friday (its second day). Cineworld Cardiff alone has 34 screenings of this film scheduled for that one day alone. I expect about one in ten seats to be occupied. Martin |
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 29, 2021 18:19:27 GMT
I can only go at the weekend or evenings (when it is busy) due to work so I will need to wait a few weeks. Not catching covid from James Bond.
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Sept 29, 2021 18:24:13 GMT
Not catching covid from James Bond. I'm sure James Bond has transmitted a lot of diseases over the years... Martin |
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