Cinemas’ pause tough
THE cinema sector has faced a sustained impact from the Covid19 crisis, after a long delay in reopening theatres, and uncertainty looms on its economic recovery.
New Zealand cinemas closed their doors at the end of March and most did not open until well into June, and while many sectors of the economy have bounced back after the lockdown, cinemas continue to face ongoing financial headaches.
Paul Woods, general manager of operations at cinema chain Hoyts, said the business was operating at 50% capacity and ticket sales had not recovered to preCovid levels.
This was largely due to the delay of international movie releases coming from the major Hollywood studios.
Chineseowned Hoyts, which operates 10 cinemas throughout the country, is not alone.
‘‘The industry is looking at well under half of where we would normally expect to be this time of the year,’’ Mr Woods said.
Operating in the Covid environment postlockdown had been ‘‘challenging’’ for the entire industry, but he was optimistic about the months ahead, he said.
‘‘We aren’t anywhere near normal numbers, but what we have seen — on the back of the school holidays — is a strong return to the cinema for the family product,’’ he said, adding that New Zealanders were generally frequenting cinemas less often after lockdown.
‘‘I can’t see us coming back to normal numbers until 2021.
‘‘For the first couple of weeks, there was definitely a nice bump of people wanting to come back, then there was a small dip before the school holidays and it bumped back up with the school holidays. We are positive about that bump continuing to the end of the year.’’
The months through to Christmas would entail a ‘‘recovery phase’’, but Mr Woods believed there would always be a place for cinemas in New Zealand.
‘‘The cinema has always been the preferred outofhome [form] of entertainment, an opportunity for friends and family to get together, suspend reality, watch a movie and have some fun, and from that perspective, I do see cinemas having a strong future.
‘‘It is obviously challenging at the moment but there are some great things coming up the end of this year, 2021 and 2022 . . . I see cinema being in good health in the future. We just need to get through this period now.’’
Hoyts received an initial wage subsidy of $1,615,819 for 316 employees and a further $1.03 million for 299 employees in the wage subsidy extension, according to the Ministry of Social Development wage subsidy search tool.
The chain closed its cinemas on March 25 and reopened on June 4 in Christchurch, and June 11 in Hamilton and Auckland under Alert Level 1.
Reduced visits and lower ticket sales due to Covid19, coupled with the astronomical rise of streaming, meant laying off staff in the months ahead was something Hoyts would have to consider, Mr Woods said.
He did not know how many jobs would be lost and said it was ‘‘not at that stage yet’’.
He said there was an appetite for new film content which was the biggest challenge with limited releases from of Hollywood.
‘‘At the moment it is definitely challenging, but the positivity of getting back to some sense of normality with a lot more releases, the longterm feeling is very positive.
‘‘Even with reduced content, people are still coming to the cinemas and enjoying the experience so that gives us a great sense of optimism that once we get a full slate of films we’ll get back to the initial numbers that we used to have.’’
Event Cinemas NZ general manager, Carmen Switzer, said the New Zealand box office was trading at about 30% of the level of the corresponding time in past years, in the school holidays — this was due to a lack of films being released because o f the impact of Covid19 globally.
‘‘The global blockbuster release schedule is still forming and studios require a certain level of cinemas to be open globally to release. The industry had shifted to global day and date blockbuster releases some time ago.
‘‘However, it was very pleasing to have Warner’s decide to recognise that many markets outside of the US have opened and decide to release the Chris Nolan film Tenet in international markets on August 27 and later in the US. We are hopeful that other major studios will follow this model, as it makes sense.’’
Ms Switzer anticipated the cinema industry in New Zealand would bounce back once the international film release schedule returned.
Russell Crowe’s thriller Unhinged opened for screening in cinemas yesterday and other blockbusters such as
Wonder Woman 1984 are on the slate for later this year.
A string of bigbudget films such as Tenet, Disney’s Mulan, the latest instalment of James Bond, Black Widow, and A Quiet Place have already been delayed, and more international release delays are expected.
The regular release of blockbusters by the major studios had not returned, Mr Woods said, and he expected more delays would come from the pandemic’s effects on the market.
Major film studios were limiting releases as many cinemas in the US and other markets remain closed. —
The New Zealand Herald