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Last week’s issue in which I predicted the death of film – with a few caveats and hedges and what the hell do I knows – drew a lot of responses on both sides.
But on two issues I brought up, the correspondence made me feel that I actually understated their importance.
1. The effect of piracy
2. The decay of movie theaters
Even if everything else were rainbows and unicorns, these two problems alone could doom cinema.
And the reason I feel driven to pound on the table for a second issue is that these are meteors, speeding straight for the heart of the movie business, that we in Los Angeles (and hello to New York readers as well!) are uniquely blind to.
Why isn’t there more panic about piracy and plex decay? They are largely invisible to us here in our luxurious coastal 90049/10014/11968 zip codes, where fully paid streaming subscriptions and access to premium theaters flow like Whispering Angel at brunch on Gin Lane.
First, on plex decay, I received the following communique from Ankler Friend “Appalachia Donna” of semi-rural KY, whose teenage children are employed by the local multiplex. She writes:
Hello from flyover country! Just thought I’d drop y’all a line that while the movers and shakers of Hollywood wring their hands over the future of film, movie theaters out here are literally falling apart. Can’t imagine why my region of 250,000 people doesn’t want to go to the “nice” theater here..
As fourth generation theater folk, my kids were kind enough to snap photographic evidence of this crumbling travesty.
She enclosed the following photos of her offsprings place of employment, the only major Temple of Cinema for miles around, and an outpost of one of our nation’s very top theater chains. Behold how your countryman enjoy the movies – the experience we expect them to be rushing back to.
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