Three lessons the film industry MUST learn

ONE perk of being a film critic is that I rarely have to buy a ticket, but that doesn’t blind me to the ever-burgeoning cost of a trip to the pictures. Some friends recently took their two grandchildren to their local multiplex, and for four of them, including drinks and sweets, forked out almost €80.

At a time when the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime are making it easier to watch

exciting new feature films at home, the big cinema chains need to take a long hard look at their pricing structure.

ANOTHER advantage of my job is that I am usually spared the pain of watching trailers, but when I do sit through them in a cinema, I am horrified by how much of the plot they divulge. The point of a trailer is to make people want to see a movie, not give

them the feeling they’ve seen it already. Studios and distributors take note; in trying to promote your own product, you all too frequently undermine it. 3 THE near-constant bombardment of superhero movies, action blockbusters and sequels (only some of which are worth seeing), means that lots of fine films get overlooked by distributors. In fairness, one of the films I enjoyed most last year was Mission Impossible: Fallout, the sixth picture in the long-running franchise. Nonetheless, true film-lovers are heartily sick of the commercial cynicism of the major studios. If it takes a few more big-budget flops to make them realise just how fed up we are, then bring them on.

In the meantime, happy viewing, and Happy New Year!