Cinema, as we know it, is facing a death by a thousand cuts.
On Monday, Cineworld confirmed its plans to temporarily close 600 theatres across its two biggest markets, the US and the UK, hitting 45,000 employees.
The decision followed yet another delay to the release of the latest James Bond film No Time to Die. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, producers MGM and Universal decided to push back the film until next spring.
But Cineworld is just the latest in a line of closures that have hobbled the film-making industry. Odeon, which owns 120 cinemas across the UK and Ireland, said it would shut a quarter of its screens during the week. The boss of rival chain Vue Cinema, meanwhile, described the Bond release delay as a "body blow."
To add to the pain, streaming giants have scooped up a range of big name titles destined for cinemas over the past few months. For instance, Tom Hanks’ World War II submarine movie Greyhound was sold to Apple TV+ for around $70m (£54m).
But rather than the death of the cinema, could this be its re-making?
Recent turmoil in the industry has opened up opportunities to allow film-makers to adapt in a digital age. With socially-distanced film production proving difficult, and Hollywood A-listers in lockdown, a gap has been created for the emergence of everything from virtual actors to in-game screenings.
Computer-generated robot actors are increasing in popularity and in May, Miquela became the first to be signed to a major agency. Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which represents the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Will Smith and Steven Spielberg, snapped up the digital avatar, who has 2.7m followers on Instagram.
Created by LA-startup Brud, Miquela has already signed brand partnerships with the likes of Samsung Calvin Klein and YouTube. The CGI character has released several singles and positions herself as a social justice activist.
The benefits of a virtual actor are many. There’s no more complaining about salary or working actors. They are always camera-ready and they can mould their image and personality to fit the audience at the time. However, the robot takeover of the cinema industry is not quite there yet.
Virtual star Miquela poses on Instagram
Credit: Instagram/Instagram
“I think the technology will need to improve a lot to get to that,” says Robert Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at Gower Street Analytics.
“We still see films struggling from what the industry terms the ‘uncanny valley’ — the issue bring something that the human eye understands is not quite real about these characters.”
Mitchell says the tech works much better when it’s overlaid onto a real performance, much in the way Norwegian actress Ingvild Delia brought a youthful Princess Leia back in Star Wars Rogue One.
“The great thing about technology is not that it’s replacing actors, it’s about advancing what actors can do,” says Mitchell.
While virtual actors may not quite be ready for prime-time yet, the film industry is already leaning on tech to help create new virtual sets. Instead of jaunting to far-flung places with various pandemic-related restrictions, producers can now use LED walls to create highly-realistic backdrops that actors can be superimposed into during post-production. In such a scenario, actors could even film their pieces at home, meaning the show remains on the road, pandemic or not.
“I think certainly, in the current situation, the industry will be considering various options of how they can pivot, obviously, production is sort of ahead of the curve,” Mitchell says.
“I’m sure distribution will be looking at every angle they can right now for how to improve and how to progress with production. And everything will be on the table in that sense”
The way in which new films are being consumed are also undergoing drastic change. Where once avoiding a big screen release meant being labelled as “straight-to-DVD”, now it means being launched instantly to millions of people — and that does not appear to be slowing any time soon.
“The drastic move by Cineworld to temporarily suspend its operation will probably ramp up the release of new movies on streaming platforms, so the likes of Netflix and Amazon prime could see a rise in demand,” says David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.
A Christopher Nolan movie night was held in Fortnite
Credit: Fortnite/Fortnite
In addition new forms of consumption, such as in-game watching are starting to pop up. In June, gaming giant Fortnite hosted a Christopher Nolan “movie night” where players could sit alongside one another and watch together on a big screen, inside a small screen.
Meanwhile, hundreds of players in Minecraft have found a way to create animated paintings within the game, potentially opening up the possibility of screening full-length films inside the virtual world.
Hollywood will undoubtedly be watching this area carefully and may look to adopt certain new movies to suit such an audience.
The pandemic has forced through unrelenting change in the movie-making industry. For purists, the beating inflicted on the humble cinema is undoubtedly hell. But for casual viewers, it could mean the start of a new era for film.
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