Why do cinemas hate long movies?

[Stephen Follows]

Hi Last week, I was chatting with a cinema owner who was angrily complaining about Martin Scorsese’s new movie, The Irishman. This person was unphased by the early streaming date or by Scorsese’s comments in the press.  Instead, they were frustrated by the film's three and a half hour running time. To understand the effect that long movies have on cinemas, I dug into the data behind cinema programming. You can read what I found at https://stephenfollows.com/why-do-cinema-owners-hate-long-movies/ Until next week, Stephen P.S. If you're thinking of joining my London course, NOW is the time to act!  It takes place in under two weeks and soon I'll be closing ticket sales to allow me to start understanding who's in the room.  The course is tailored to the people attending and the types of projects they're planning. Use code STEPHENSFOLLOWERS for 10% off  https://indiefilmdatalondon2019.eventbrite.com TODAY'S NEW ARTICLE ON STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM Why do cinemas hate long movies? To understand why cinema owners hate long movies, we need to look at screening times from the point of view of the cinema. Using real-world data, I took a look at how movies are programmed and how the running time of movies affects what's possible. https://stephenfollows.com/why-do-cinema-owners-hate-long-movies/ FILM DATA DIGEST Articles, reports and news from the past seven days How does Europe manage the timing of film releases in cinemas, on DVD/VOD and on TV? Day-and-date film release (simultaneously in cinemas and on DVD/VOD) is still a rarity in the European film market. In the States, a recent US survey found that only 5% of respondents were "definitely" willing to pay $50 to see a new film at home on the same day it opens in theaters. At half the price, the potential consumer base rose to a mere 13%. In Europe the system of release windows is a long-established industry norm. https://rm.coe.int/release-windows-in-europe-a-matter-of-time/1680986358 Nigeria's Oscar choice disqualified over English dialogue Nigeria's first-ever Oscar submission for best international feature film has been disqualified by award organisers, sparking criticism from its director. Films in this category, formerly best foreign language film, must have "a predominantly non-English dialogue track". However, the 95-minute film Lionheart is largely in English, with an 11-minute section in the Igbo language. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50300862 Joanna Hogg sounds alarm on future of arthouse cinema The director Joanna Hogg has sounded a warning on the future of arthouse cinema in a call to arms that saw her attack a "certain kind of cinema" for being "homogenised" and lacking passion. Hogg, whose most recent film, The Souvenir, won a Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival, was speaking at a screening in London on Tuesday of a freshly restored silent film, and echoed Martin Scorsese’s recent attacked on superhero films. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/06/joanna-hogg-sounds-alarm-future-arthouse-cinema-souvenir-director-martin-scorsese-superhero-movies James Dean will return from the grave (via CGI) in ‘Finding Jack’ Today in terrible ideas: James Dean will return from the grave to star in the new movie Finding Jack. Dean, who died in 1955, will be brought back to life via CGI in the Vietnam War action-drama. Directors Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh say they have the approval of Dean’s family to perform this digital necromancy, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. To paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm, the filmmakers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. https://www.slashfilm.com/finding-jack/ Character reference: how movie marketing is eating itself I’m getting sick of character posters. Who are they for? What point do they serve? Last week we were treated to a set of Little Women character posters. Now, not much could stop me from wanting to see the film, but the sight of the cast airbrushed and glowing like they’ve just been Pompeiied by a uranium tsunami came awfully close. Truly, these are dreadful posters. Florence Pugh looks like she was dropped into a vat of Vaseline by a clumsy fool. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/05/character-reference-how-movie-marketing-is-eating-itself FROM THE ARCHIVES AT STEPHENFOLLOWS.COM The thoughts of UK cinema staff Almost exactly four years ago, I published the results of interviews with 151 people who work in UK cinemas, from entry-level employees right up to managers. Among the things I discoved was that the most common cinema customer complaints are about the price of food and tickets (two thirds of cinema staff feel that cinema tickets and food cost too much). And Londoners complain the least about cinema prices, despite London having the highest average prices https://stephenfollows.com/thoughts-uk-cinema-staff/ This email was sent to studionort...@gmail.com Click here to unsubscribe. Click here to provide feedback or just reply to this email © Stephen Follows, Erroneous Wit, Somerset House, London, WC2R 1LA, United Kingdom