Sydney independent cinemas battle against Covid, streaming services
Independent cinemas are fighting on two fronts to survive as the spread of Omicron and online streaming services threaten their future. But there is hope.
NSW
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Sydney’s independent cinemas are in a desperate scrap to survive as they take on the twin threats of Covid and online streaming services.
The city has a long and proud history of independent cinemas and many remain as pillars of their local communities.
But times have never been harder for owners, with many fearing they will not survive.
For months last year cinemas were closed. Now we’re out of lockdown many don’t want to risk being shut in an enclosed space with strangers with Omicron out of control.
“It’s been a hard couple of years,” Stuart Lane, manager at Dumaresq Street Cinema in Campbelltown, said.
The venue, an independent cinema offering $7.50 tickets across all films, has been open adjacent to Campbelltown Station for 30 years this April.
“In 28 years we only closed for 28 days in total,” he said. “In the last two years we’ve had to close for around eight months in total – so it’s been 28 days in the first 28 years, around 200 days in the previous two.”
Sharon Strickland is CEO of Dendy Icon Group, which operates the Dendy Cinema in Newtown.
She said: “Significant lockdowns and delays of blockbusters have resulted in an extremely tough year.
“Unfortunately, Omicron wreaked havoc, and admissions across the industry have been down around 50% compared to the same period in 2019/20.”
Mr Lane said that even though restrictions have eased, people are wary of venturing into cinemas.
“People are understandably worried about the new strain and are being told to avoid crowded environments, which has knocked us back a couple of notches again.”
Last month Spider-Man: No Way Home took over $1 billion USD in the most successful post-pandemic release yet.
But Marvel’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man failed to boost tickets as much as expected in Sydney, given the increasing rates of the Omicron variant.
Even still, latest Spider-Man is the exception.
James Gardiner, founder of the Small Cinema Owners Association, said it is the other films being released that have a significant bearing on overall sales.
“The films that often sustain a cinema are all those releases in the ‘middle of the spectrum’, most of which are really down on tickets,” he said. “Blockbusters – like Spider-Man – are supposed to be where you make money, all the other films are the ones that keep you open.”
He described Spider-Man as a ‘risk budget’ release, a film that was so big and popular that the reward of seeing it outweighed the risk, most notably the risk of infecting Covid.
“Everyone has a budget, people have so much going on over Christmas but they do want to go to the cinema, so they’ll do it with Spider-Man.”
But it needs people also buying tickets for other movies, going multiple times to watch different films, to sustain cinemas.
“People aren’t going to go out to two or three films like they normally do,” he said. “That’s what you’re seeing with Covid.”
Covid’s impact on the movie making industry as a whole has also had an impact, including on the range of films available.
The timings between the re-openings in Australia and other large film markets contributed to a lack of new releases and tickets over the last 18 months.
“In 2020 when NSW reopened cinemas, a lot of the world was still closed,” Mr Lane said. “So the film distribution companies weren't bringing out the popular films because for a couple months we were one the only countries that had cinemas open.
“So even though we reopened in July 2020, we had quite a few months with movies that you wouldn't call mainstream blockbuster films, so ticket sales were pretty low.”
When a lot of the postponed Hollywood blockbusters were finally released in 2021, NSW was thrown into another lockdown, shuttering cinemas once again.
“The situation deteriorated here and we locked down and closed again, just as things were starting to look a bit brighter again with films,” he said.
Mount Vic Flicks, a family-run independent cinema in the Blue Mountains, has seen dwindling ticket sales throughout the pandemic.
“We were hoping that business would pick up over the holidays but sadly it hasn't,” Kirsten Mulholland, co-owner of Mount Vic Flicks, said.
“We like to think that eventually people will return to cinemas, but while the pandemic continues to disrupt everything and people are getting used to being able to stream films at home shortly after release it could be some time before the numbers return, if they ever do.”
Independent cinemas are feeling the impact of streaming services encroaching on their territory.
This is something which has been accelerated by Covid.
The window between the theatrical and streaming release has continued to get smaller during Covid.
Previously, films would usually have an exclusive theatrical window of around 90 days before being available to stream at home.
Some windows are now as little as two to three weeks, while some films in other markets – most recently The Matrix Resurrections, Black Widow and Dune – were released simultaneously in theatres and on streaming platforms.
All of Warner Bros Pictures’ 2021 films in the US were simultaneously released in cinemas and on its HBO Max streaming service (for a 30-day period).
“As we find a path out of restrictions it‘ll be interesting to see if distributors will retain these strategies or not,” Ms Mulholland said. “If they do, we don’t think we’ll ever see pre-pandemic numbers return.”
Open air cinemas have space on their side in the effort to entice people back to the movies, even if it’s on a picnic chair as opposed to a leather one.
“People are desperate to get back to get back to and enjoy life,” said Angus McCaffrey, a member of the Hunters Hill Open Air Cinema (HHOAC) team.
“This is one of the avenues that offers patrons a very Covid-safe event, while also getting back into the swing of things.
“People have been locked up for two years and there‘s definitely that energy and enthusiasm to do things – I think people really miss being together as a community, and this allows us to be together in a way that is also Covid-safe.”
Established three years ago by a small group of friends who grew up in the area, HHOAC is showing a swath of new releases throughout January overlooking Bedlam Bay.
The cinema has to wait to show new releases, roughly a month after they’ve run in major cinema chains.
“It’s a bit tricky, the large chains get a really clear advantage, but that‘s the way it is and it’s just about doing the best that we can with what we’ve got available,” said Mr McCaffrey.
Having come out from the trickiest two years in industry history, independent cinemas have emerged bruised and battered.
Although the situation looks far from bright, Mr McCaffrey is hopeful.
“I‘ve seen a real shift in terms of the culture of Sydney towards people wanting to be with their local community, to enjoy the outdoors, and in a sense, supporting independent and local initiatives – and I only see that growing,” said McCaffrey.
Mr Lane was also hopeful and said great filmmaking will help.
“Cinemas essentially depend on the quality of the product and I would describe that as a bright spot for 2022,” he said. “There are plenty of great films that have been made and are waiting to come out, and hopefully they will encourage people back into the cinema once again.”
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