By “Joker” director Todd Phillips says commercials before films in cinemas should be removed as it’s ruining the experience.
Empire Magazine recently spoke with a number of filmmakers about the future of the theatrical experience, including the likes of Phillips, George Miller, Sean Baker, Sofia Coppola, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Adam Wingard, Jeremy Saulnier, Paul Feig and Daniel Scheinert.
All offered different takes on things from AI to film set collaboration and more. Phillips, however, voiced the specific idea of getting rid of commercials in an effort to combat the desire from audiences to stream films at home. He says:
“Stop showing commercials before the movies. We’ve paid for our tickets. We’re excited to be there. The commercials tend to take the air out of the room.”
While many say the experience of cinemagoing will never go away due to the collective social aspect of it, that doesn’t mean some aren’t frustrated with it. “The Florida Project” and “Anora” director Baker says he’s worried cinema is losing its identity:
“People are abandoning celluloid. We have filmmakers who, for some reason, are okay with their films going directly to streaming, or are just abandoning film altogether, and saying, ‘Hey, I’ll take a series.’ It’s very frustrating for me, for somebody who’s finally broken in after all these years of trying, to see the art form that I love starting to drift away.”
Others aren’t so downbeat, such as “A Simple Favor” director Feig who calls streaming a blessing for filmmakers who just want ther films made:
“We’d all love to be making theatrical films with big releases but with the studios cutting back on their output, the streamers have really stepped up to let us tell our stories with real budgets.”
Prince-Bythewood says the future of cinema is with “the voices that have been excluded from cinema” as with them you’ll “find fresh, unique stories about characters and worlds we have not yet seen.”
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