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Despite the skepticism, the cinema here is worth staying

We have been hearing about the impending death of cinema for more than 100 years, but it remains on its feet and will survive the plague as well.

Beyond the obvious reasons like the desire to perpetuate and earn and the intensification of the viewing experience, there is another reason: it is the only means of entertainment that unites all sections of the population.

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Effi Lifshitz

Wednesday, 21 October 2020, 08:44

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It is not new to say that for more than a hundred years many have loved to herald the "battle death of cinema."

The cinema, which originated in the late 19th century, progressed and upgraded slowly over the years, relative to the great revolutions that took place around it: Industrial Revolution, World Wars, Radio in the People's Homes, Television, Color TV, Multi-Channel, Cable, Satellite, VHS, Laser Disc, Internet, DVD, Internet video, Blu-ray, torrents and more and more.

Still, cinema continued to grow and grow to be an industry of about $ 43 billion a year.

Then came a plague.

And all the cinemas, all over the world, have closed.

So maybe this time it's the end of cinema?

The prevailing claim is that the streaming services (sponsored by the plague) will be the ones that will land the final blow of the death absolutely.

These arguments are backed up by press releases from shareholders of media companies announcing "structural change", "another blockbuster moving to service +" or "another media company that is developing a streaming service directly to the consumer" and press releases from major movie theater chains announcing: "Friends, one more moment We will run out of money. "

So who really needs movie theaters when you can see Spike Lee's new on Netflix, 'Borat' and 'Discover America 2' on Amazon and Pixar's new 'Soul' at Disney +.

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Is there a substitute for the excitement that precedes a viewing experience that you will not be able to achieve anywhere else?

As with anything good, the answer to such a question is also divided into three parts: First, of course, anyone who wants to maximize the revenue from the cinematic content he has created.

Studios' recent attempts to send "Trolls" and "Mulan" directly to streaming have made it clear that the expected revenue from cinemas cannot be compensated.

So, as for Bond, Fast and Furious, Wonder Woman, Top Gun and more, the studio executives chose to put it off and put it off until it could be shown in theaters.

Second, there is of course the viewing experience.

Peter Bogdanovich (who directed 'The Last Movie Show') once said that "you would not really see a movie if you did not see it on the big screen. You saw at most a version of it."

The total devotion of the viewer, necessary to create a meaningful experience requires sitting in a properly darkened hall, with a screen that covers 85% of the field of view, a well-tuned sound system, a high-quality and extremely comfortable seat and the "ritual" of going to the movies.

But most importantly: we just should not, as a society, have cinemas disappear.

In an age of audience segmentation and social and cultural segregation sponsored by social networks, mass media and a lot of politics, cinema was and remains - today perhaps more than ever - the “great unifier” of society.

Not infrequently at all, in one hall are young, old and elderly.

Right, left and center, educated and those not, religious and secular, Arabs and Jews, women and men, rich and poor (yes, it's still an equal pastime for every soul) - everyone enjoys, laughs, stretches, fears or cries at the same content projected on a giant screen in front of them.

Filled the theaters even though the series is available everywhere on TV and online.

"Friends"

Effi Lifshitz

There is no other place like cinema.

The audience in the theater is very homogeneous.

Football and sports do combine ages, but the number of tickets is about a tenth, gender they are (still) biased and we have not talked about the fact that these are always two hawk camps.

Music is surely a matter of taste that divides the audience according to genres.

Thus, the cinema hall, alone, remains one of the largest of all cultural activities - a place where a huge variety of spectators make up our society, for all the differences between them, a place where they see each other, sit side by side (with social space required) and enjoy together Content that speaks to everyone.

This is a beautiful phenomenon because the cinema is essentially a local, community, even neighborhood business.

On the financial side, this is called micro market business.

This local business brings together physically different people of different types who live in geographical proximity to the complex and mostly watch well-known and popular global content all over the world.

Exactly about a year ago, Warner Bros. distributed several episodes of the series 'Friends' to cinemas around the world, and also in Israel.

The halls were full to bursting, and demand far outstripped supply.

Just to mention, this is a series that is frequently available in homes for the proliferating "Netflix" subscriptions, in reruns on such and such channels and was made about two decades ago and more.

Despite this, the halls were filled with adults wanting to be remembered, and girls and boys rediscovering it on Netflix - all willing to happily pay the ticket price, stock up on popcorn and drinks and experience the (blatantly non-cinematic) product as a group with other people.

So where else is there such a meeting place?

To me, this is no less than a "miracle" that until the epidemic would take place every day in hundreds of thousands of movie theaters around the world, and it is important for all of us, not only economically, to maintain and promote this institution during and after it.

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