The announcement today revealing that the City of London is entering the UK’s highest level in its tier system comes as a huge knock-out blow to the capital’s cinemas. From the Prince Charles Cinema to the Odeon Leicester Square they will all be forced to close from Wednesday 16th December.
The head of the UK Cinema Association Phil Clapp has been long demanding Cinemas are exempt from these conditions. Speaking today, he stated:
That not a single case of Covid has been traced back to a UK Cinema. Yet those sites [over 100] will be forced to close when non-essential retail – where safe guarding measures are undoubtedly less exacting – will be allowed to remain open.
The UKCA has been calling for the government to step in and provide a targeted financial report to the operators in the UK with its recent “Keep The Magic Alive” campaign video. Elsewhere, in the Netherlands, they’ve announced a 5-week lockdown from Tuesday, December 15th, Germany has continued with its strict measures enforcing closures. And only just in the past few days, French Prime Minster Jean Castex announced Cinemas would have to remain closed throughout the Christmas Holidays.
Spanish Cinemas Suffer Further
Credit: VUE
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Whilst Cinemas in Spain remain open to an extent, the restrictions preventing them from selling food & drink has seen all the figures head into the red. This news comes as the continent was bracing for the release of Wonder Woman 1984. What seemed a positive step at the time of confirmation also seemed slightly odd.
Realistically the only film market open and making revenue is Asia. America, still struggling to contain the pandemic, saw record high deaths last week. And with European countries stuck in lockdowns, it remains to be seen where the money will be made.
Of course, the United States will receive Warner Brothers releases on HBO Max along with a cinema release, and it’s more than likely we’ll see platform on-demand releases elsewhere. Wonder Woman 1984 has a 28 day exclusively within the UK before heading to on-demand platforms, but with most of the major cities in Tier 3 until after Christmas, it won’t be seen by the majority.
Warner Brothers this week has seen a tsunami of criticism from audiences and directors alike including Christopher Nolan and Dune director Dennis Villeneuve. It seems the studio didn’t run its decisions to send films to both cinemas and HBO Max in the USA by its directors first.
$10 Million Sweetener
Credit: Empire Cinemas
Read more: Netflix Asked To Lower Its Streaming Quality In Europe For 30 Days
Star Gal Gadot came out and stated it ‘warmed her heart’ that audiences could see her movie on Christmas Day at home instead of the Cinema. Whether we can trust the validity of her comments remains to be seen, however, we can be sure the $10 million the actress received as a result of the Warner Brothers decision helped…
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