I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, bear with me:

Cinema chains have completely failed in this moment to make the case for why they matter. And I hate to say it, but:

It’s game over for multiplexes and cinema chains as we know it.

/thread

The pandemic has exposed the already rickety framework of the current exhibition and studio system. One that is wholly reliant on shiny, big, IP driven packages to pack cinemas and drive billions of dollars in revenue.

The industry has hit a point where if major IPs aren’t making $1 billion worldwide as a bare minimum, they are considered failures. And both studios and chains have relied on a small number of these films to succeed and pay the bills each year.

The result has been squeezing out midsize pics & creating a business model that prioritizes asses in seats at the expense of any kind of theatrical innovation. Chains leaned on theatrical windows to keep them relevant, and studios just took a big slice of the pie.

The entire way the movie business functions has been a precarious, high risk gamble for a long time. And now it looks like the last hands are being played.

For *years* audiences have complained about about mainstream moviegoing: ticket prices, concession costs, and shoddy projection standards. The chains have largely ignored these concerns with the arrogance of knowing auds will still show up for Marvel or major blockbusters.

Again, they were protected by an increasingly old fashioned business model in a world rapidly evolving toward streaming/On Demand. That moment has arrived. Streaming and PVOD is the new normal. Full stop.

At a time when cinema chains are struggling to make a case for their existence I don’t think I’ve seen any of them campaign for the actual magic of moviegoing, why it matters and how they’ll make it better when we’re back. Or why it’s *worth* going back.

Instead we have chains both in the United States and Canada lobbying or suing governments to open or increase indoor capacity in the middle of a pandemic. They’ve made clear what their priority is. It hasn’t changed.

Meanwhile, there is no way studios are going to ignore the PVOD or streaming service money just sitting on the table when we come out of this. The pandemic allowed them to test the model out of necessity. It works. What is their incentive to go back to the way things were?

The Nolans and Tarantinos and Marvels will continue to get theatrical releases in whatever chains and multiplexes are left standing. Arthouses will be fine, but more niche than ever. Those audiences are devoted and those cinemas care about the art form and standards.

But in the cinema chain world, the new normal will be much shorter if not entirely collapsed theatrical windows. They won’t be able to fight it. And moviegoing as it once was, a total relic of the past.

I hope I’m wrong. I originally drafted this thread before the “Mulan” PVOD news and unfortunately, things are only looking grimmer.