Kermode Uncut: Cineworld and Competition
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode - Last December multiplex giant Cineworld acquired the Picturehouse arthouse chain. Now it has been ruled anti-competitive in certain places and they are being forced to sell some of the cinemas. What do you think of this development?
As a former Cambridge resident I can say that the Cineworld and the Picturehouse cinemas there provide such a different cinema experience, that most people have a preference for one or the other. Not once have I decided on going to a particular film at one of those Cambridge cinemas and then said "hang on, let's just check if it's on at the other place" before deciding where to go. It's worth pointing out that the same distance from the Picture House in the opposite direction is a Vue multiplex.
As a Sheffield resident, Cineworld Sheffield is both the nearest cinema to me and the largest in their chain.
I like having access to larger screens, IMAX, etc. Most importantly, I like having an annual subscription that allows me to see as many films I like. I wouldn't be able to afford frequent (thrice weekly) cinema trips without it.
I know that they're probably hurting independent cinema, but the fact they give enthusiasts a way to enjoy films cheaply is something I can't fault.
I live in Newmarket, between Bury SE and Cambridge. I irregularly attend the Picture house (I caught the "We Steal Secrets" there) and I organise the cinema club at work and take people out once a month to see a movie at Cineworld (usually on half-price Tuesday, the company subsidies the other 50%, so for all employees a ticket it free.)
Feelings: There is a Vue cinema at the Grafton shopping centre, but it is quiet true that all the cinemas in Bury, Haverhill and Cams are Cineworld. cntd..
As much as I'd hate for the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse to go, I have too many fond memories of the Cineworld to let it go too, it was pretty much my second home during my A-levels! If it is sold I hope it finds a decent buyer who understands the enormous appeal of that cinema
As much as I'd hate for the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse to go, I have too many fond memories of the Cineworld to let it go too, it was pretty much my second home during my A-levels! If it is sold I hope it finds a decent buyer who understands the enormous appeal of that cinema and that, to a lot of people, it's not 'just another multiplex'.
I'm not in one of these areas but where I am (North-West Kent) there is a distinct lack of competition. There is a clear hegemony of one or two chains. I have two options. The enormous multiplex at the local shopping centre, the enormous multiplex two towns away or the other enormous multiplex two towns away next to a river. All of them are much the same and although the owners are different, show the same films at roughly the same price.
Competition is one thing but like-for like? No.
I have to admit I am worried. We live between Cambridge and Bury and have been to both Picture houses. Although Cineworld is a large corporate at least they where a solid buyer who in all fairness did know how to run cinemas.
"Someone who has experience running cinemas" - that would be Odeon then!
I'm not so much of an independent cinema purist as many film fans are. I don't particularly lose sleep about who owns and runs what, as long as prices are low with a varied selection of studio and independent films.
With arthouse audiences becoming increasingly disgruntled by disruptive audience members and the rapid expansion of digital distribution by independents, I hope this won't be a problem for much longer.
In the cambridge film festival it was hinted that, if anything, it would be the cineworld that would go. A lot of people were scared because the picturehouse is above a wetherspoons so we could lose a great thing and gain a slightly bigger version of the worst thing ever.
Bury Picture house is great. It's small, serves food and you can have a glass of wine with the film. It's got class. And that's what people pay for. It's in Bury because it's doing well and now it's come under an arbitrary decision by a competitions commission for it to close. I don't see it sticking round not because it couldn't do well, but because the infrastructure that allows it to do well is being taken away from it!
There was no cat among those pigeons.
cntd...
So the competition commission do have a point in that regard.
However, the problem of who takes on the Picture House is a tricky one, it probably ought to be Cineworld if they are true to their word to keep it as is (a real draw for the non-multiplex crowd and integral to Film Festival in September.) but it's a big ask to see them loose a property in either Bury or Haverhill. As it stands in Cambridge there is competition from The Vue.
i was so confident a cat would be thrown in amongst those pigeons, damn it! haha
Nice pigeons
i don't live in those areas sorry