Will you be going to the cinema to see Dune (2021) or holding off because of the pandemic?

I’m an avid cinema goer. 40 years old and still love the big screen and shared enjoyment of a movie. The last year has sucked in that regard because cinemas have been closed due to the pandemic.

Now that things began reopening I thought I’d head back for the first time in a year to see a movie. I chose Reminiscence to see and went alone, Friday night, middle of Summer to a 4 screen complex. It was showing in screen 1, the largest of the 4, with a 300 seat capacity.

2 people showed. Me and one other single cinema goer. Again:

• Friday night
• Middle of Summer
• Main screen
• 2 x tickets sold

The cinema was very COVID safe. All staff wearing masks, a 1-way system and hand sanitiser in hallways. I live in the U.K. by the way if that helps with context.

It was so depressingly sad for me that the only thing I’ll remember from the average sci-fi flick was the experience of seeing the cinema empty at such a time. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy an empty cinema sometimes, but it was much worse than I expected for what should have been a peak audience evening.

On the drive home all I could think about was the Dune movie and how it felt almost certain from my viewpoint that ticket sales for Oct 22nd would be devastatingly bad. Such news won’t just be bad for Dune & Villeneuve fans, I think it’ll be a truly sad wake up call for the industry as a whole. I can see the headlines now… “cinema is dead, long live streaming.”

I’d like to suggest to my local cinema that they open up the box office today for Dune and start building the local hype, reminding people that it’s okay to go to the cinema now before it’s lost forever.

I’ll be going, that’s for sure!

Submitted August 24, 2021 at 03:01PM by samcornwell https://ift.tt/3klAapu