With film fans now used to streaming movies at home, multiplexes may have to rely on blockbusters alone
You have to go back to the outbreak of the second world war to find the last time the cinema industry was forced to close by order of the state. Chamberlain’s government, fearful of air raids, ordered that all places of public entertainment be shut forthwith, only to renege on this a week later in the face of criticism. George Bernard Shaw wrote in a letter to the Times that the closure policy was a “masterpiece of unimaginative stupidity”. The cinema, it was argued, played a vital role in maintaining the morale of the nation. So, does the cinema industry still play that role, and what of its health?
Having started 2020 in an extremely healthy state, following an admissions total for 2019 that was the highest since 1970; things looked great for the industry. 1917 was packing audiences in, while the slate of films due for release in 2020 included several titles tipped to take a billion dollars at the global box office – No Time to Die, Mulan, Black Widow, Fast and Furious 9, Wonder Woman 1984 and Tenet. Then, in March 2020 cinemas were ordered to close. A cautious reopening in July was followed by a closure again in November. Box office takings dropped 76% in 2020with admissions at their lowest since 1928 – the beginning of the age of talkies.
