WHEN IS A CINEMA MORE By Nicolas Chican - Founder, Ōma Cinema*
You might not expect Lancashire to be the seat of a new innovation in cinema, but it is.
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urrently in development, the MMC complex in Blackpool is set to grace the town with an all-new, IMAX-ready, 9-screen cinema – but there’s more. It will also be an esports café. An incubator space for digital media businesses. A conference facility as well as an entertainment destination and innovation hub. Cinema has had a particularly difficult time over the last 18 months. While many different industries have suffered due to lockdown, not many have had long term changes to their business models occur alongside the pandemic. Not only have cinemas not been able to open their doors to audiences, but the film industry has also seen the rules change when it comes to agreements over streaming windows. Even when the nation’s big screens could reopen for short windows of time, schedules were subject to reduced capacities and choosing from a suite of ‘classic’ films rather than the latest blockbusters which could pull audiences back in again. Those
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in the industry could be forgiven for asking where the sector goes next. The MMC development offers one avenue for Blackpool, Lancashire – rather than a multiplex development as we have come to know them, it is a multi-functional space which is conceptualised as a community hub as much as it is a place to watch the latest releases. We would argue that it is just this kind of rethinking of what cinema spaces can and should be which points the way to a brighter future post-pandemic for cinema operators, and cinema lovers.
concerned that the interest of younger audiences in cinema on a global level was decreasing. They are also a key demographic for the success of cinema – making up a large proportion of the cinema audience overall (28%, for the 15-24 age group which makes up 12% of the UK population overall). Clearly, getting these cinemagoers back through the cinema doors is a major focus. For all age groups, it’s the shared experience which sets cinema apart. But in the face of other options, and
After all, stop and think about what a cinema is. It is a place where people come together to share an experience, to be immersed in an experience together, focused on the entertainment. It’s not just about experiencing a new must-see film, although the recent success of Black Widow, long delayed by Covid, has shown that people still want to be wowed by new releases on the big screen – even if they are released on the same day as streaming. Speaking of streaming, the impact of home releases has been one of the two biggest concerns for the cinema industry, at least prepandemic, along with connecting with younger audiences. Many have been
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