On Twitter about a week ago I saw an article by Forbes magazine's film industry expert Scott Mendelson lamenting how poorly small movies are faring while audiences go to either big movies or none at all. People just aren't going to see smaller, better movies like Book Smart, Late Night, or The Dead Don't Die.
First of all, raise your hand if you heard of those movies before now. Chances are you probably haven't. Whereas everyone on the planet knew about Avengers Endgame.
Second is something my brother mentioned on Facebook: most of these movies aren't hardly IN theaters for people to watch. Your average multiplex has 15-20 screens, most of which at this time of year are showing the biggest movies, preferably ones they can charge more money for 3D or IMAX. No one cares about seeing Book Smart in 3D or IMAX. So the movie theaters wisely focus on the potentially big money makers. That's just capitalism. The smaller movies then usually get squeezed out to just a few showings for a couple of weeks. In big cities you have small, indie theaters that will show these movies but in small cities you're not going to get that and don't have the screens to focus on movies that aren't likely to make money.
As I said in my previous point no one wants to pay extra to see Book Smart in 3D or IMAX. In fact, why go see Book Smart in the theater at all? With a big movie like Avengers Endgame I drag my ass to the theater because it's got all those fancy effects and big sound and all that. Plus everyone is talking about it on social media and potentially in real life. Who's talking about Book Smart? Film industry people, mostly. Not your friends or families or followers or people you follow. So there's no FOMO.
Mostly what I think people like Mendelson don't get is that going to the movies these days is more of a chore than a pleasure. Back in the 30s and 40s you didn't have TV or probably air conditioning so the movies were a welcome refuge in the summer. Even in the 80s and 90s you probably didn't have a great TV and you didn't have the ease of streaming like you do now. Now people like Michael Offutt can have 60-inch 4K 3D TVs with theater quality sound in their homes. Even poor schlubs like me have flat screens and a Blu-Ray player and Roku.
So the thing about a movie like Book Smart is to see it in a theater I have to go at an appointed time, pay $6 minimum per ticket, plus $5 for a drink, $5 for popcorn, etc. For just me I could wind up paying $15-$20 to see a movie at a time the theater sets. And if I have to use the bathroom I can't put it on pause to go. I can't use my phone or talk to people unless I'm a huge jerk. Or I can wait for it to come out on streaming or Redbox and pay $1.59 if not stream it for "free" and watch it when I want, with the ability to pause it if I want and to talk and text all I want. I don't have to pay for my own snacks either. I can even watch it several times if I want without having to go back to the theater to go through the whole process again.
So what's the advantage for me seeing it in the theater? Maybe if someone else wants to see it, which for me is unlikely. Even for larger small movies like last year's Bad Times at the El Royale I can go through the hassle of going to the movie theater or just wait eight months for when it's on HBO. It's a lot more convenient for me to watch it at home for no extra cost and there's really nothing I'm missing by not going to the movie theater.
It's like sports where it's much more of a chore than a pleasure to go watch it live than to watch it at home in the comfort of my home. The only reason I'd want to drag my ass to downtown Detroit to watch the Lions, Tigers, Pistons, or Red Wings is if other people are going or if it's a big event like a playoff game. I think it's clear the same is happening with the movies now; home theater technology and streaming/Redbox have made it much more convenient to watch movies at home unless it's a big event. That's not good for those little movies in terms of theatrical fortunes. Is it bad for movie theaters? Maybe but what can they really do? Unless they can rewind technology to the 30s.
4 comments:
smaller budget films, indie, films, and non-mainstream films really are getting squeezed out of the theatrical model these days.
I'm wondering how long until the house of cards the movie studios have created over the last decades crashes. Disney right now has nearly 40% of the market and the year is only half over and I'm not sure how the acquisition of Fox will impact those numbers. The other "major" studios are all under 15% of the market, most under 10%. The model has always been that the less profitable, smaller, lower budget movies are offset by the success of the bigger budget films...but we've seen even the bigger budget non-Disney films failing recently, especially this year.
It seems like the smaller films need to find a new model that can allow profitability without using the traditional theatrical system and go straight to streaming or whatnot. Netflix can't bankroll everything; they will eventually run into problems with funding too.
I like seeing non-blockbuster, high concept, "indie" type films and there needs to be a way for filmmakers to tell those stories and get attention. Like music and tv before it, the movie industry needs to change the way they do things in line with life in the (soon to be) 2020s
Yeah, I love indie movies, but in the past 2 years I've only seen Marvel movies in theaters, because that's what my friends want to see
Scott Mendelson is one of my favorite writers on Forbes. His understanding of the film industry is second to none. But I disagree with him on Indie films. I understand the box office is important but there’s no way I’m going to the theater to see them. Like you said movies are expensive and time consuming. Plus I’ve got three kids who are more interested in Batman than Book Smart.
With services like Netflix I can watch Brie Larson’s indie movie Unicorn Store in the comfort of home. That’s hard to beat and you can enjoy the movie without the extra baggage.
Sad to say the days of independent movies depending on the box office are gone. But there’s a whole new world of distribution to explore.
Thats a good point. If Disney wanted to it could use some of their power to bankroll smaller films and support the industry. Sadly Fox Searchlight is probably going to get shut down and movies like Shape of Water will disappear.
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