Vue to buy Printworks, Odeon-Imax plans, fatal Showcase stabbing, Netflix France cinema pressure, India price cap, Cinepolis India UPI, 21% Germans ‘never’ go to cinema, 700 films banned in German cinemas, INCAA sacking protest, Picturehouse strike, Showcase shooting, another cinema stabbing, Guyana murder trial, Chur Burger goes Hoyts Chadstone, German wheelchair woman blocked, UK autistic girl get Smurf treat, Cinépolis Foundation brings cinema to prisoners.
UK – Vue looks set to take over the Odeon Printworks multiplex in Manchester, as a condition of AMC’s acquisition of Odeon & UCI. By selling the 23-screen city centre complex to Vue AMC would get to keep its one and only multiplex in the UK. The acquisition would be a consolation prize for Vue which lost out in the bid for Odeon last year. Manchester Evening News – 14 April
UK – AMC/Odeon plans to speed up the deployment of Imax screens across its cinemas in UK, Europe and Scandinavia. Odeon and Imax have just signed an agreement for 25 deployments across Europe, the largest of its kind in the continent. 10 have already been identified, with Odeon and Nordic Cinema Group set to have 47 in total (46 without Printworks). As well as the Imax, AMC plans to spends ‘hundreds of millions’ to modernise the Odeon circuit. Press Release – 11 pril 2017
USA (NY) – An employee at a Showcase Cinema De Lux in Yonkers was stabbed to death after an argument with a man in the cinema lobby just after midnight. The man had been attacked two weeks previously but survived. There were recently shootings at another Showcase cinema and a stabbing at another theatre (see below under Law & Order) in unrelated incidents. New York Post – 15 April 2017
France – Cinema owners are demanding that Netflix show its films in cinemas before releasing them on the streaming platform. Cinema trade body FNCF was forced into acting after two Netflix titles were selected for the Cannes film festival: Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories”. France has strict regulations about when films can be released on different platforms. Variety – 14 April 2017
India – The price cap of INR 200 (USD $3.10) will be in force in Bengaluru (Bangalore) before the end of April, promises the state’s Chief Minister. Already Indian blockbusters are getting shunned by film buyers in the state who fear they will not recover their investment. The New Indian Express – 12 April 2017
India – Cinepolis has introduced a unified payment interface (UPI) system across all of its Indian multiplexes, powered by HSBC. Hindu Business Line – 13 April 2017
Germany – 21% of Germans polled ‘never’ go to the cinema. Another 21% go ‘less than once per year’. The YouGuv polll also found that only 2% go every week, while 9% go once per month. 15% go once a quarter, 13% once every six months and 15% once per year. Germany was the only of the top 50 economies in the world that experienced a box office decline in local currency last year. DigitalFernsehen (DE) – 16 April 2017
Germany – “Heidi” is one of around 700 films that are not allowed to be screened in German cinemas over the Easter holiday. Other films that the cinema ratings trade body FSK deems capable of offending religious sensibilities include “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and “Ghostbusters”. In 2016 two titles were added to the list – “Evas Zorn” and “Hardcore”. General Anzeiger (DE) – 13 April 2017
Argentina – Protests at the Gaumont cinema after the government dismissed the president of the INCAA audio-visual trade body. Alejandro Cacetta was dismissed by the Monistry of Culture has alleged irregularities and corruption. Infobae (ES) – 13 April 2017
UK – Ritzy and Picturehouse staff were striking over the London Living Wage over the Easter Weekend. There have now been 40 strike days in the last seven months. This is a problem that just won’t go away for Cineworld. Evening Standard – 13 April 2017
Law & Order
USA (NY) – Smitty’s Cinema in Windham was evacuated after a non-specific threat at another one of its locations. Police were brought in and the staff were eventually allowed to return to close up the cinema for the night when it was deemed safe. WGME – 16 April 2017
USA (MA) – A shooting at a Showcase multiplex in Revere led to a customer stampede. The local carnival was underway, sending people outside into a panic. Nobody was injured but several cars were hit by bullets, suggesting the firing took place outside in the parking lot. Police are looking for the shooter. Boston Herald – 16 April 2017
USA (CA) – A fight over seat kicking escalated into a woman stabbing a man in the arm at a AMC La Mirada 7 theater in La Mirada, CA. “After a brief argument, the female suspect produced a knife and cut the male victim in the arm,” Sgt. Jason Cunningham of the LA County Sheriff’s Norwalk Station was quoted as saying. There was no immediate danger to the victim’s life. Deadline – 10 April 2017
Guyana – The murder trial against three men accused of murdering the owner of the Regal Multiplex cinema has been adjourned until 9 May. Mr Ganesh Ramlall was gunned down in 2015. Stabroek News – 12 April 2017
Concessions / F&B
Australia – The Hoyts cinema in Melbourne’s Chadstone is carving out a reputation for itself as a cinema F&B destination, with the latest addition being the Chur Burger, which is self proclaimed as having Sydney and Brisbane’s best gourmet burgers. The cinema will also offer the chance for patrons to add a “shot of alcohol to their vanilla, milo, strawberry, or salted caramel thickshake for [AUS] $6 [USD $4.53].” Herald-Sun – 16 April 2017
Access
Germany – A woman in a wheelchair was not admitted to a screening of “Beauty and the Beast” on a family outing to a Cineplex cinema in Mannheim. The stairs to the entrance meant that the 24-year old could not join the rest of her family. Morgenweb (DE) – 11 April 2017
UK – A four-year old autistic girl got her own screening of “Smurfs: the Lost Village” after she became upset over a mix up over the screening times. Staff at the Odeon Trowbridge, Wilts put on a private screening when the family arrived two hours too early. BBC – 12 April 2017
Finally
Mexico – Cinépolis is not just one of the largest exhibitor in the Americas, but through its Cinépolis Foundation it also does a lot of charitable work, such as organising film screenings for prison inmates. 2,000 in Mexico City’s Santa Martha Acatitla prison got to enjoy “Independence Day” and “The Wow” – with popcorn. Promising to bring cinema to hard to reach places, it has screened films to 465,000 people on 8000 occasions in its ten years. Corresponsables (ES) – 16 April 2017
