On Screen EVENT CINEMA In effect, the challenge event cinema faces here is the same challenge faced by the wider film industry—a lack of new content ready to go into socially distanced production. At the same time, the shifting landscape of global exhibition will likely lead to some changes down the line for event cinema distribution, says Allenby. Event cinema is largely based on the concept of appointment viewing—selling a film as a one-time-only event, released at the same time globally (where possible, taking things like local holidays and regulations into account), with no guarantee that it will ever hit theaters again. Moving forward, there will have to be “greater elasticity” if countries go into a second lockdown, Allenby says. “From my perspective, we spent the last 10 years building up the global event model where [on] one night, same time, local time zone adjusted, an event happens and everybody’s unified. I think whilst that approach still stands, we’re going to have to accept there’s going to be variance. At short notice, countries may well be having to opt out of releases or postpone releases. And so we will need to have more flex in the model.” Fathom Events is embracing change in its own way, by using the period of the shutdown to reevaluate its preshow strategy as a whole, developing content designed to contribute to patrons’ theatrical experience “from the moment that they sit in the theater chair.” Fathom’s Steffey continues, “Across the board, we’ve been really diving into things that perhaps prior to this pandemic [we] really hadn’t had the time [to focus on]. … This is a chance for us to take a step back and then determine, how can we really look at optimizing our core business and our go-to-market?” In addition to its pre-show, Fathom has also begun conducting its own research into consumer preferences and launched a redesigned mobile site. CineLife, Trafalgar, and Fathom all plan to make announcements in the coming weeks as to what will be on their slates for the back half of <strong>2020</strong>. But in the longer term, a challenge looms: the struggle to create new content, as many of the live cultural events that make up so much of the event cinema landscape are on hold. The Metropolitan Opera, for example, has canceled its fall season, and it’s hard to imagine the gigantic concerts from K-pop band BTS, which have proven so profitable for event cinema, taking place any time soon. In effect, the challenge event cinema faces here is the same challenge faced by the wider film industry—a lack of new content ready to go into socially distanced production. “Certainly,” notes McCabe, “acquiring content over the next 12 months is going to be a different landscape than it was six months ago.” Here, Allenby believes that event cinema distributors are better positioned than typical studios because “the risk is slightly more contained.” Event cinema’s demand-through-scarcity model—reaching out to fans of a niche subject, rather than one with more general appeal—means that fewer ticket sales are needed in order to be deemed successful. And, with its smaller marketing budgets and quick turnaround time, event cinema is more nimble than its traditional counterparts; new product, whatever it is and whenever it takes place, can conceivably find itself in theaters in a matter of weeks after completion. As for what that content will be—it doesn’t appear that anyone, at this point, is trying to reinvent the wheel. The types of event cinema releases will be much the same as they were before, but distributors will be looking at unique ways to work with exhibitors to get them to the public— whether that’s increased flexibility in scheduling or a new pre-show. To help fill a gap in content, Trafalgar is looking into staging theatrical productions in the U.K. in mostly empty theaters, “without an audience or with a socially distanced audience, essentially primarily for cinema and potential downstream postcinema. … If you haven’t got a full paying audience in there, there probably is enough flexibility with the right planning to put shows on and capture them,” says Allenby. The worlds of event cinema and musical theater alike, he notes, are “looking at creative solutions to how we can continue some level of business during this period,” keeping the two industries “bubbling away, at least, whilst things normalize. I’m not trying to be overly or blindly optimistic, but I do think there are still great opportunities out there.” Above: Ghost, part of Fathom Events’ TCM Big Screen Classics series for <strong>2020</strong>. Image courtesy Fathom Events 98 <strong>August</strong> <strong>2020</strong>
SAVE TIME SAVE MONEY Stadium Savers delivers the highest quality riser systems in the industry; ensuring project success by providing a tiered seating system that is time and cost conscious. For more information call our headquarters at 616-785-5598 or visit us at www.stadiumsavers.com. Like us on Change with the Changing Times #UpgradeTo info@galalitescreens.com www.galalitescreens.com <strong>August</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 99
Change language