Yay, it’s back to the big screen
OLDER readers may remember when cinema programmes began with a Wurlitzer organ rising slowly from the orchestra pit, smartly dressed organist already seated and merrily playing.
Sadly, that tradition is long gone. But if ever there were a case for reviving it, just for a day, then that day is tomorrow.
Britain’s cinemas are reopening. The Showcase chain is leading the way this weekend, to be followed over the next few weeks by big multiplex groups such as Odeon, Cineworld, Picturehouse and Vue, in readiness for the two major summer releases they hope will attract people back in metre apart hordes: Disney’s live-action remake of the 1998 animation Mulan, and Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster action thriller, Tenet.
With no big new releases just yet, however, Showcase is screening golden oldies including Back To The Future. The movie-going experience, by contrast, is moving forward to the past.
Foyers will be stripped of their pick’n’mix stands. Some snacks will be less readily available. Cinemas will again become mainly forums for watching films, rather than noisy-eating competitions.
We may even see the return of torch-wielding usherettes or their 2020 equivalents, to make sure those social-distancing measures are upheld.
How all this will affect the longterm future of cinemas is anyone’s guess. But undoubtedly it will. Before Covid-19 we were in a boom period for ‘going to the pictures’. The UK box office did more business in 2019 than in any year since 1971, the year of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
For now, at least, the cinema industry has lost its own golden ticket. More films will be released directly to video-on-demand; audience numbers will be reduced by the need to stay safe. And some of those lovely little independents will be forced out of business.
But it will surely take more than this coronavirus to break up the enduring three-way romance between the British public, great films and the silver screen.