Indie cinemas were enjoying the success of awards frontrunner The Banshees Of Inisherin – until Disney decided to fast-track it to its streaming service.
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Before the pandemic hit in early 2022, the cinema industry was already going through something of an existential crisis. Said dark night of the soul was thanks to the inexorable rise of streaming, that cheeky upstart armed with an infinity loop menu, autoplay trailers and a brainy algorithm.
Not that cinemas haven’t had to cope with the threat of home viewing before, but this situation was different, thanks largely to the fact that the long treasured theatrical window (the time between a film opening in cinemas and being available at home) was being squeezed even smaller as streamers looked for more exclusive ‘content’ to entice subscribers.
Still, nothing that couldn’t be worked out, right? Give it some time to let the choppy waters settle and a new landscape would ultimately emerge.
Then the pandemic arrived, and the entire world of entertainment was swiftly thrown into utter chaos. Slow changes became instantaneous and a gradual shift in how people watch films was thrust into warp speed. And absolutely nobody was ready for it.
As a cinema programmer, I’ve written before on this site about the effects the pandemic have had on the cinema industry, but within the last year, it’s become ever more apparent just how much panic and complete guesswork has been informing decisions about how and when films are being released. Long term strategies are few and far between as new streamers pop up every few weeks, each of them desperate to get a foothold before the market is entirely saturated.
Nowhere is that lack of long-term thinking more apparent than with the recent release of The Banshees Of Inisherin.
From a UK perspective, Martin McDonagh’s Oscar tipped dark comedy opened in…