The COVID-19 pandemic has done some pretty hefty damage to the entertainment industry and its ability to generate money. As lockdowns ease across the world Arnold Schwarzenegger says “the big screen is back” and well, no one has more authority to talk about being back than Arnold Schwarzenegger AKA The Terminator.
Schwarzenegger opened ‘The Big Screen Is Back‘ presentation in Century City, on May 19 by stating:
“The big screen is back, ladies and gentleman!”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold then got the audience to join him in chanting…
“We are back! We are back!”
Arnold Schwarzenegger and attendees
Deadline reported:
“The conference, which was produced by the Motion Picture Association, National Association of Theatres, LA movies studios and NYC distribs, and key PR gurus Terry Curtin and CAA Head of Motion Picture Marketing Megan Crawford, is one of the first in-person events for the motion picture industry which showcased theatrical distributors (big and small) summer slates…”
Deadline
The movie industry is more than ready to get back to business, and would understandably like to prevent more theater closures from happening.
Arnold attributed his former success to theaters…
“I wouldn’t be here if it wouldn’t be for theaters. I always said to people, you can call me anything you want –Schnitzel, Arnie, Schwarzy,– but don’t ever call me a self-made man.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
He continued to say…
“you don’t have theaters, you don’t have nothing.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
One big problem is that many people may have grown accustomed to viewing movies at home, but Schwarzenegger has a different take…
“Yes, we’ve been in a pandemic year, and people had to watch movies on their little iPhones, little iPads…you had to put glasses on, they’re missing the special effects and visual effects on the big screen,”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
That’s one way of looking at it but home cinemas with surround sound systems, large flat screen TV’s and wall projectors at home, have become more affordable with time, and we highly doubt that everyone is viewing movies on a cell phone when a close-to-cinema experience is attainable at home. Even James Cameron has a movie theater at home.
Will movie theaters have the same appeal to the average Joe; especially those suffering from post-lockdown unemployment or financial difficulties? There has to be incentives for cinema-goers and owners for this to succeed.
With new strains of COVID-19 coming from India and more reports of new strains spreading that make the current vaccines ineffective, this may cause enough concern for people to hang back a little longer from rushing out to theaters, regardless of if the industry wants them to.
“Now is the time to wind down this pandemic period, now is the time to get back to the big screen,”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger also talked about economic impact, and the obvious job creation of making movies, theaters and the knock on trickle down to surrounding business eg. a restaurant visit after watching a movie etc. For it all to work, we, Arnold says, need the big screen.
It’s nice to think that life will be back to normal at some point in the near future, and the forced disconnect with the theater experience could mean that when people do go back to the theater it could be a special experience that makes us all realise what we’ve been missing out on.
The home digital market has also shown huge potential, hopefully a smart balance of the two can make Hollywood more prepared for such a devastating world event – should it ever happen again.