In a few weeks dominated by Martin Scorsese’s comments about what does and does not constitute “cinema”, an entirely different issue about the moviegoing experience has been brought to light — the cinema itself.
Hugh Grant complained to his followers about “unendurable” volume at his local Vue during a screening of Joker, while Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert took issue with the half an hour of adverts and trailers he was forced to sit through before his own screening of the Todd Phillips film.
Assuming there’s nothing specific about Joker that’s triggering rage in otherwise reasonable celebrities — no judgement on that front here — these comments speak to problems which will be sadly familiar to anyone who regularly visits their local multiplex. Edward Norton went even further this week in an interview with The Daily Beast, stating that “it’s the theatre chains that are destroying the theatrical experience”.
The cinema experience is far from perfect and, in an era of streaming services with very impressive catalogues and reasonable pricing structures, the huge financial outlay and organisational headache of a trip to the flicks is looking less and less attractive.
So what can cinemas do to reverse their decline?