After cinemas reopen

It turns out that Hong Kong cinemas have been closed for more than three months since the beginning of January. When they reopen on April 21, it should be the longest closure since the epidemic, and there is no guarantee that there will be no next time.

In the past two years, cinemas have also been closed the most. Although the number of infections caused by cinemas is almost zero, every outbreak must bear the brunt and be ordered to close first. After the reopening, there have always been seating restrictions, never allowing more than 90% of the admission, and completely banning food and beverages, the snack bar has been closed for a long time, and the source of revenue for the theater is only tickets, which is very difficult. The biggest expense of many theaters is rent, and some of them cost more than one million yuan a month. Therefore, there have been all UA theaters going bankrupt. The future development is unavoidable.

As a movie fan, you still have to find different channels to continue watching when the cinema is closed. The most recent one lasted for more than three months, and the most uncomfortable thing is that daily life in foreign countries has returned to normal, and film production and screening have not been suspended in certain areas at the same time. For example, last year's Iron King movie was postponed many times due to the global epidemic, and finally it was almost released simultaneously around the world. But this time, there are no screening restrictions in Europe and the United States, and in Hong Kong alone, many films have a backlog in their release dates. For example, Batman has not yet been released, and others have already drawn. It seems that many movies may not be released to the public, and they are already on the shelves of online platforms. Do you want to see them first, or insist on watching them in cinemas? It's really a difficult choice.

In foreign countries, during the epidemic in the past two years, the city has been closed many times, and everyone has been trapped at home. It is necessary to see that movies can be realized online, and many platforms are also determined to develop. For example, Netflix has already diversified and even made its own products. It was screened directly on its own platform, without going to theaters, and even participated in the Oscar selection. There was great controversy at that time. This year's Oscars set a precedent for this kind of web film to win the Best Film Award. This "CODA" should not be shown in Hong Kong cinemas, and everyone can watch it on Apple TV. There are very few voices of controversy this time, and it is hard to say whether there are other more controversial incidents.

For a fork, in the days when I could only watch movies online, I also watched a lot of online programs, and the happiest thing was to find the "As long as there is a movie" channel hosted by Mr. Shu Qi, a veteran filmmaker. This is a 30-40-minute show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It originally started in September last year, but I only learned about this show after the movie theaters closed this year. It has nearly 90 episodes so far. I mainly talk about movies, one by one. In the early days, most of them were films that were released at that time. Sometimes I could talk about three or four episodes. The background of the materials is very detailed. If it is just a general movie fan, it may feel a little boring if it is too careful. And watching the movie is also quite personal, he is full of praise, you may think it is unremarkable, but listening to his explanation is also a kind of broadening of horizons. Before I knew it, I had recovered all the previous episodes, and I was a little surprised.

Mr. Shu Qi once revealed that he has subscribed to five streaming movie platforms. He is particularly fond of old movies. He has thousands of movies to choose from every month. The difficulty can be imagined. Off the shelf, so as not to miss. This is also a selling point or limitation of online platforms. Some movies are for a limited time, which is not what we generally imagine. They are placed online and can be accessed at any time. Limited time, countless movies, how to choose?

This also brings up another consideration. Is there any difference between watching online and watching in theaters? Of course, the difference is huge. I put aside the equipment first and watch at home. There is a lot of freedom. Over time, it will form a habit. Some movies don't need to be watched, just to pass the time, just like on the plane, there is nothing else to do anyway. Streaming platforms are usually free to watch for a monthly fee. Everyone may not focus on quality. Will attitudes and values change because of this? Personally, I think that there is a generation gap. The older generation still mainly watches in theaters, while the younger generation will not mind watching on streaming platforms or even on devices with a small area such as mobile phones.

And because of the impact of the epidemic, coupled with the fact that streaming platforms have their own selling points, I did spend more time watching movies online. When I meet someone I like and have a good reputation, I will try my best to watch it without interruption. It's really good, it's catchy, and the characters are caring. Actually, it's not difficult at all. Once everyone is accustomed to watching online, when the price is affordable and there are many choices, what can cinemas use to compete? Coupled with the latest epidemic prevention measures, especially for theaters, from the end of May, only those who have received three injections can enter the theater. I'm not sure who came up with the tricks, but it's more like a downer move, as if to kill the movie theater, and the people in the movie or industry representatives still don't seem to respond, am I worrying about nothing?

The film production industry is likely to operate as usual, at best straight to streaming platforms after completion, and there may still be foreign markets. But for movie theaters, as mentioned above, on the one hand, the streaming platform is grabbing the market, and on the other hand, it has to deal with the trend of decreasing the number of admissions due to the new epidemic prevention measures, and the rent of movie theaters is generally high. Need to face the impact of reality, the predicament, is no longer imagined.