Articles like this one in the Hollywood Reporter, “Mann Orders Chinese Takeout: Grauman’s on the Block as Value Peaks,” really irritate me. Upon reading the entire piece, there is not a single mention of anything Cinemark did to change the established business model of their theater chains. Their major issue was that they “leased” most of their theaters and therefore were unable to “push through conversions to stadium seating and other modern amenities.” OK, I get that stadium seating and a new sound system are important aspects of the theater-going experience, but these theaters are where you look at your asset — old school, vintage single-screens — and you say HOW CAN I SELL THIS EXPERIENCE.
The thing is that a lot of theater owners (apparently Cinemark, meaning Warner Brothers and Viacom, which really doesn’t make this surprising, but irritates me none-the-less) rely on the studios to advertise for them and then when people don’t come to theaters, they gripe that it is because studios don’t give them quality fare or didn’t market adequately. That is the antiquated business model of “if you show it they will come,” which is very 1994, before I got a computer with Internet IN MY INDIVIDUAL DORM ROOM at Virginia Tech. Pretty much from that second on, the movie theater experience, or at least the motivation to watch a movie in a theater changed. But neither theaters or studios get it. They don’t get that people have to seek out the theater experience for some reason, because there are a hell of a lot of other things we could be doing with our time and money. So if that film isn’t top grade (or have explosions that require theater for the full effect) we have to WANT to go to the theater, we don’t NEED to go to the theater. We can also find it pirated online, or wait a few weeks and see it when we get around to it (something the studios are not so fond of as dependent as they are on opening weekend box office numbers), or wait for the DVD, or get it from online, or — because it will happen sooner than we think — watch that new release (or relatively new release) it in the comfort of our own home.
This shift in audience motivation is a bitch. We no longer need to be motivated merely by a good movie coming out, but we need a compelling reason to go to the movie theater and go to THAT specific theater. And what draws people to the theater grows more diverse as more elements and activities vie for our attention. The days of “building it” or “show it” and they will come are no longer now, no matter how much kicking, screaming or mashing of the square peg into the round hole we engage in. Or moaning about how the exhibition business is no longer as profitable as it used to be. Because the reality is that the old business models (and marketing models) are what is no longer profitable. People are always going to watch movies (and entertainment content) so it is merely a function of figuring out how and, most importantly, WHY and adapting business models accordingly.
I know it seems simple, but there is such a tone of “these kids these days” and “woe is us the movie exhibition industry is no longer profitable” rather than an explosion of new and innovative practices.*
*Arclight Theaters (and others like it), I apologize for this generalization, I love you and I think you are making excellent efforts in changing your business and marketing models.
