Let’s go to the movies, again

I’ll meet you at the AMC 21 this Friday or maybe over at Webster theater, Archlight or the Icon theater—whichever is more convenient. Wait a minute, I think the Archlight Theaters went under and the AMCs are nearly bankrupt. Actually I can’t go this Friday after all ‘cause I’m still binge watching something on Netflix—or was it HBO MAX?

Now there’s the rub. How do you get the public to come back to the movies? The giant host of streaming services out there like: Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, Paramount+, Netflix, HBO MAX, etc., are so convenient. The pandemic has changed the whole game plan. We work from home and are entertained at home and it’s all free, or so it seems.

I don’t miss the $17 parking, $15 popcorn or the $15-20-dollar movie ticket, do you? The only films that are getting the target audience of young male movie-goers tend to be the epic MARVEL films or James Bond. You can see the small, intimate romcoms just fine on your giant wall-to-wall TV at home—why go out? It is a dilemma for the movie theater operators.

The 2 or 3-hour giant blockbuster film will get you off your sofa for a while, but can that keep the cinema world alive? The world has changed, and our entertainment habits have changed. Giant in-person concerts are back on the boards. Outdoor music events are too. But what about the movies?

Some new gimmicks are on the way to get you out the front door. Regal Theaters will be experimenting with RPX next. It claims many new things, including SCREEN X, a 3-screen installation in some theaters, sort of like Cinerama back in the day. IMAX is still out there in 4-D with its motion, wind, fog, scent, water, vibrations, and other physical effects that you will either love or hate.

There are also certain “niche” film situations that still can grow a limited audience, like a special event film festival, a closed-circuit opera or NFT London stage performance. The Music Box or the Siskel Film Center still draw specialized audiences, but that doesn’t keep a 10-21 screen multiplex filled each week.

This summer the screens are alive with some giant productions: “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis,” “Jurassic World: Dominion,” “Mission Impossible,” “Bullet Train,” “Black Phone.” Older folks did venture out to see “Downtown Abbey: A New Era,” but that’s about it. The fall will have the next big batch of blockbusters from Spielberg on.

These giant films can only be seen in-person with wrap-around sound and 100-foot screens, but will that be enough to sustain the industry? The pandemic also saw the significant shortening of theatrical windows, with film studios and cable streamers releasing new films in a theater and then a few days later making them available on their streaming platforms. What are you going to do? You are probably going to wait and watch it at home. This does seem to shoot the poor theater owners in the foot.

Personally, I vote for the big screen. I hated wearing the mask and paying the prices associated with the cinema, but the experience of being with an audience and participating with everyone’s reactions to the film is still exciting to me—I hope I never lose that feeling. I hope you don’t either.

See you at the movies, maybe...

Michael Kutza is the founder of the Chicago International Film Festival. His first book, “STARSTRUCK,” will be out in September.