When it was announced a year ago that the 2023 UK Cinema Association’s annual conference would focus on sustainability there must have been some subtly raised British eyebrows. Cinemas had only just re-opened in the United Kingdom, but “Top Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: the Way…

Earlier this month I spent two weeks in Singapore – and glimpsed the future of cinema, though it is probably not what you think it might be. The city/island/state was my home for five years, so it was a welcome opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues that I had not seen since befo…

At least year’s ShowEast in Miami, when Universal Pictures screened DreamWorks Animation’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” the auditorium at the Regal South Beach was mostly full, though there a good number of delegates who rolled their eyes and decided to stick around the Loe…

As exhibitors all over the world tune into the Oscars this weekend, still giddy from counting all that “Avatar: The Way of Water” box office, they may not be aware of a threat to their business lurking on the horizon. It is not a problem having to do with theatrical windows or the now mo…

This past week the cinema industry witnessed something it hasn’t seen in almost a quarter of a century; the National Association of Theatre Owners named a new president and chief executive officer. When it was announced in October 2022 that the trade organization’s current President and…

It’s been a year since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Today the war grinds on as Ukraine continues to bravely defend itself, while Russia shows no sign of abandoning its ambitions of subjugating its democratic neighbour. For those of us more used to seeing the horrors of…

For those of us in the cinema industry this past week illustrated that old Aesop’s Fables idiom; “Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!” Three years ago exhibitors were grappling with whether they needed to close their movie theatres due to a global pandemic. A year late…

The Celluloid Junkie team has been quite busy over the past week or two. Helen Budge attended the Event Cinema Association’s Slate Day in London at the very end of January. Last week, Patrick von Sychowski headed off to Neurenberg, Germany for the 2023 EDCF conference last week, while at the s…

With many western economies teetering on the brink of recession due to inflation and high energy costs, the worry is that belt tightening is going to impact cinema attendance in 2023. People looking to save money can forgo a trip to the restaurant or the latest Marvel film, but not milk, bread or he…

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival wrapped up in Park City, Utah this weekend. It’s the first time that one of the film industry’s biggest annual festival’s has been held in person since 2020. While there was lots of chatter about the current woeful state of “specialty films…