The Future Of Cinemas Isn’t Looking Bright

After a stop-start year at the cinema’s box office that heads out of recovery from the ‘pandemic era’ and Covid-19, the struggles facing the industry continue to mount. With box office bombs such as Warner Bros’ The Flash, Disney’s Elemental, and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny looking unlikely to make a profit and ever-changing audience habits, we are seeing a huge shift for the worst.

Cineworld may have escaped bankruptcy proceedings in the US but is now in the hands of its creditors. The UK arm is due to announce administration within weeks, and Odeon has closed multiple sites in the UK this year.

Box Office bombs and Hollywood Writers’ Strikes!

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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To add further insult to injury, with the WGA writers’ strike in the US is looking unlikely to end soon. Industry sheets are now reporting that the Actors Union SAG may be about to join the strike, which means that the future for cinemas and Hollywood in general is bleak. However, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just because there are strikes going on now doesn’t mean that the future of the industry is in tatters. This could spell the beginning of a bright new future of Hollywood. A Future where people are paid what they are owed.

However, it has to be said that without writers and actors’ productions are therefore shut down and put on hold. Moreover, depending on how long the strikes go on for, further jobs are lost from the production crew, many of whom are on a job-by-job basis.

But it’s not just productions that could come to a halt, but also press junkets, promotion and advertising, and if this hit into awards season, it would be devastating for the success of those films. The last time a duo strike took place was in the 1960s. This strike was, oddly enough, led by future president Ronald Reagan, and this could result in studios cancelling projects or moving releases further back to prevent fiscal loss.

We’ve already seen the likes of Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures move certain upcoming cinema and TV projects back because of the strikes.

2024 will see fewer films released in cinemas than in 2023

Credit: Pixar

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All of this means that cinemas and theatres are looking at a year that already has a lower number of film releases than the year before. This will just spell even more misery as the box office struggles to return to the highs seen in 2019.

With films performing badly at the box office or being critically panned by both audiences and critics alike, audiences are becoming more particular about which films they go to watch and where they watch them. Just look at what’s going on over at Disney. Its own streaming platform, Disney Plus, notably affected its own animation and Pixar releases as audiences are now trained in the knowledge the film will soon drop onto the platform for much less than a family cinema ticket.

What do you make of this news? Have you been to the cinema this year? If so, which film (of films) did you go and see? Let us know your thoughts on this news in the comments below.

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