Movie theatres in southwest Saskatchewan do not experience Cineplex effect
An alliance of independent movie theatres across Canada is taking action against Cineplex, but two small theatres in southwest Saskatchewan have not experienced the same concerns.
Independent movie theatres recently formed the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE) to act on behalf of the interests of Canadian independent film exhibitors, and they are submitting a complaint to Competition Bureau Canada about the alleged prohibitive practises of Cineplex, the country’s largest movie theatre chain.
NICE claims that Cineplex is unfairly blocking audiences from a choice of where to see movies through its influence on film distributors, which results in longer wait times for independent movie theatres to screen new releases.
Movie theatres are either first run or second run cinemas.
The first run cinemas receive the right to screen new films on opening weekend and to play these new releases for a number of weeks.
The second run cinemas can only screen the new movie releases after the first opening weeks.
Films are allocated within zones, and within these geographic boundaries the second run cinemas have to wait until first run cinemas have completed their play of a film.
Rio Theatre, a second run independent movie theatre in Vancouver, has started an online petition against Cineplex that has already received over 18,000 signatures. Rio Theatre states in the petition that it often has to wait three to six months after a film has been released due to the influence of Cineplex.
According to NICE there have been examples where an independent movie theatre could not book a film that has already played at a Cineplex in their zone, because the film was playing at a different Cineplex in another zone. NICE is also concerned that Cineplex is acting as a film distributor, because it has begun distributing films through Cineplex Events.
Cinema Twin in Swift Current is a first run cinema and owner Kathy Pratt said it is important that cinemas in this category receive a window to run a movie before it is made available to second run cinemas.
“There’s lots of rules and lots of hoops to jump through and different companies have different rules,” she mentioned. “It’s all about the playing window that this theatre is complaining about and it hasn’t anything to do with Cineplex. It has to do with first run theatres, second run theatres, discount houses, and each market needs to be protected by a certain amount of window so that they have an opportunity to play, because they’re on a different price structure to play their product in order to recoup their time.”
Cinema Twin is a family-owned business and Pratt will book movies directly with the film distributors, instead of using a booking agent.
“I know what’s doing well in my town and a lot of the booking agents are owned by another theatre chain,” she said. “So they book what’s best for their theatres first and fill you in.”
For Cinema Twin the benefits of a first run theatre comes at a cost, because the terms to show a blockbuster movie on first release can be high, both the financial terms to screen it and the period it has to be showed. For example, the terms of playing the Star Wars movie included a commitment to play it for four weeks, which is a challenge for a theatre with only two screens.
“We’re considered a two-week town,” she said. “So any time we open anything on release, we have to play it for a minimum of two weeks and sometimes for three, but when we’re stretching to four, the picture’s got to be really good. You have to look at it that if you don’t play it on release for those four weeks, then you’ve got to wait probably six weeks before they’ll let you have it, and it’s such a front-end loaded, want-to-see movie. Even if the fourth is terrible, the first three are so good that you have no choice, you have to play.”
Film companies might have various requirements for a new movie that theatres have to accommodate. Sometimes the size of the Swift Current market can play a role in Cinema Twin’s ability to secure a movie on release. She noted that the release run for the movie Invisible Man focused on larger markets.
“|We weren’t large enough to fit into their run that time, just because of population,” she said. “So we have to wait for second wave. We wont’ be able to play Invisible Man until two weeks of release, and they’ll do that for different films. They’ll say we’re not going wide enough for you on the first wave, and usually they’re trying to stage their movie out, just so that it stays playing a little bit longer and to get the word of mouth out more.