MatCine.com

If you have ever fancied a trip to the cinema, only to discover that your local multiplex isn't showing a single movie suitable for anyone with a mental age in double figures, you are not alone.  It is a sad fact that over the last 30 years cinema has become more and more the preserve for the undiscerning young. Youth culture has virtually monopolised the cinema screens, while films capable of entertaining anybody with a modicum of intelligence have become hard to find.  MatCine was conceived by Tony Carr, who has worked on many projects in the film industry over the years.  "I couldn't find any films on general release that I really wanted to see.  I wasn't being old-fashioned, but cinema-going used to be a special experience.  Cinemas just didn't seem to have anything for the older generations, and I felt  sure there were many people out there who felt the same as me in this regard".

It is a matter of fact that the over 45s is the fastest growing sector of the population. Furthermore, Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research has found that cinema-going by this group has risen 450 per cent in the last ten years, making it the fastest-growing cinema audience.  What makes these findings all the more remarkable is that they have been achieved despite the very limited choice of movies available for this sector of the community to want to go and see.

Tony Carr believes that the quest to achieve ever-increasing sales of cola and popcorn has become the primary objective of cinema chains.  The profits generated by such activities blind cinema managers to the potential box office an older audience might generate for their screens.

MatCine is a branded concept of cinema-going for a neglected generation. Its commitment is to redress the balance by distributing movies selected with a view  to entertaining the vibrant, grey-haired community that is steadily growing in size.

SIGHT & SOUND:-

MATCINE'S PERCEPTION OF MATURE CINEMAGOERS IN THE UK TODAY

We believe that there is a large and growing audience here in the UK for intelligent, entertaining movies. Far too infrequently is the UK’s cinema-going public able to get to see such movies. While we may experience a rare embarrassment of riches immediately prior to Academy Awards ceremonies, for much of the rest of the year it can prove difficult to find this type of movie, apart from at a number of enlightened art-houses.

In an article in 2002 in The Times under the headline, “Cinema for Grown Ups”, Celia Brayfield described what she felt was missing from UK screens. “It’s about time that the film industry raised its sights instead of pandering to the popcorn classes. I want to see a film that does not insult me just because I am older than Britney Spears”. Celia’s kind of movie is regularly being made and screened all around the world. Unfortunately, few of these ‘movies for grown ups’ get any exposure at cinemas here in the UK and, when they do, their allotted time on screens is very fleeting. Blink…….and you miss them!

We at MatCine lay the blame for this state of affairs at those responsible for booking movies for cinema exhibition………the film-bookers. In many instances their only criteria in determining whether or not a movie is suitable for screening is short and simple: will it appeal to the youthful audience? If it passes the test then, good or bad, it will be booked. Those movies that fail the test will be screened only by those independent art-house cinemas or film societies whose criteria is equally simple, but different: is the movie worth seeing?

This obsession with the youth market is misconceived. In commercial terms the cinema-going youth market is fast diminishing. Declining birth rates and longevity are only two of the factors which have given rise to numerical changes in this sector of the market place. Added to that is the fact that today’s youngsters have many more demands on their free time than their elders. Such demands on their leisure time are considerable and varied, and cinema-going for them is far less the attraction that it once was.

On the other hand, the mature market has a considerable amount of leisure time, fewer demands on it, a spending power that the youngsters cannot match, and memories of a time when cinema-going was the pleasurable activity it has ceased to be for many.

Taking on board these factors, we are firmly of the view that there is a healthy future for cinema in the UK, but only if cinema takes note of the new dominant force which is the mature market. We are not alone in reaching this conclusion. Here follows just a few of the numerous published comments in this vein:

In July 2000 Screen International, under the headline, MIDDLE-AGED SPREAD BRINGS BOX OFFICE DIVIDENDS, reported startling findings of Cinema & Video Industry Research (CAVIAR), namely that cinema attendance by those over 45 years “has jumped 450% in a decade”………. yes, four hundred and fifty per cent……. and that’s not a printing error!

In June of this year Screen International reported that the trend has continued and that, while box-office figures have been in decline over the last few years, the number of over 45s visiting the cinema rose by 27% in the period 2000-2005.

Towards the end of 2005 Ian George, the Managing Director of Pathe Distribution, when interviewed by Screen International commented that, “in the past five years there has been a 38% growth in the over 45s audience fuelled by such films as Calendar Girls and Gosford Park”. In his view, “this sector of the audience can now almost be considered regular cinemagoers with more than four million A B C1 women (45+) classified as going to the cinema on a regular basis………and this demographic is now able to deliver a hit” He went on to back this up with figures, and revealed that some 61% of the total audience for Calendar Girls was aged 45+, 52% for Chicago, 60% for Iris, and 70% for Gosford Park.”

There are other lessons to be learned as well. The mature audience’s pattern of cinema-going differs by way of comparison with the youth culture model. The opening week-end box office takings for many youth culture movies frequently comprise a very substantial portion of their entire cinema box-office takings, while mid-week takings frequently dramatically and suddenly diminish to relatively negligible proportions. The reverse is true in the case of the mature audience. It takes a little longer for an older audience to warm to a movie, and to build ‘word-of-mouth’. The over 45s feel no need to fight their way through the many crowded cinema foyers at week-ends. This though should no longer be the concern it once was. Many cinemas underestimate the importance of the older audience and its potential impact on mid-week business, and so fail to see the significant revenue it can generate. Patience is what is required. Movies that appeal to the over 45s can sustain long-term mid-week business, and can run and run if cinemas wait for an audience to warm to a movie. A movie that successfully appeals to the older audience will frequently amass significant box office takings over the longer period, cinemas permitting. 

Writing in the Evening Standard, back in 2002, and under the heading, LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE, Neil Norman observed that, “ things are changing because the audiences are changing: the age demographic has shifted from the teenage-‘twentysomethings’ to the 30-45 year olds….the kind of audience at whom, say, Gosford Park is aimed. The notion that it’s only the young who go to the pictures in numbers sufficient to count at the box office is now falling away. Middle-aged couples who were once considered stop-at-home comfort junkies are now watching movies more than ever…….and it is they who are accounting for the growing number of films dealing with proper human crises and dramas as opposed to wham-bam teenage pyrotechnical action and geeky gross-out comedies”.          

The US is seeing much of the same. Again, in 2002, Variety featured a piece by Peter Bart in which he observed, “no one seems to notice that the over 50s constitute the fastest growing sector of the audience. Guess which demographic group uniquely spends more on music and the movies? The over 50s, that’s who……..doesn’t that make you wonder why more material isn’t tailored for them?”

The item also quoted figures: “in the decade between 1990 and 2000 the proportion of the movie-going audience in the age group 50-59 doubled from 5% -10%. In the same period, that prime 16-20 age group dropped from 20% to 17%, with younger kids reflecting a similar decline.

Peter Bart concluded, “surely there should be a return to movies that zero in on……perish the thought…..grown-ups.”

Moving on to 2004, Variety observed that, “even as overall ticket sales continue to sag, the film-going audience age 50 and over climbed 20% last year. While the kids each year become increasingly obsessed with their video games and cell phones, their parents seem to be rediscovering the movie habit……….so what would happen if Hollywood actually bothered to make some movies for them?”  

While much of the mainstream cinema in the UK appears to be oblivious to or reluctant to respond to these changes within society, a good number of art-houses have done so, and benefited accordingly. As Screen International noted back in 2004, “the older age groups are going to the cinema more often and this is changing the type of film being shown in some art-house cinemas”. The article went on to explain the phenomenon so, “……..all grown-up now, this cinema-literate demographic, the more affluent end of the so-called baby boom that blossomed in the post-war era, has retained the movie passion of its formative years”. In essence this social grouping has rediscovered a passion from its youth.

The typical UK multiplex appears to be unaware of these changes. At the end of last year Screen International identified the problem in its reporting, “the multiplex is culturally and economically aimed at teens. The concessions stand is very obviously geared towards younger audiences, and yet it is the very same teens whose time is being aggressively courted by every new development, from text messaging to video games”. As for the multiplex’s lack of discernment in its programming, the article went on, “all the research suggests teen cinemagoers are frequent visitors but what movie is actually showing is only a marginal issue. For the younger audience, going to the movies is a social act, while for the older ones it is the content that counts”

In the UK we are seeing how a generation divide is reflected in cinema-going habits. The multiplex screens with few exceptions predictably and conservatively programme with the youngsters in mind. The art-houses opt for the exact opposite. It was to a large extent with the mature cinemagoer in mind that Variety, earlier this year, observed that, “as British cinemagoers tastes grow more eclectic, the popularity of foreign language films at the UK box office continues to rise”, and “while foreign-language fare may never match the clout of the high-octane Hollywood blockbuster machine, the increasingly strong performance by foreign language films at the box office gives the industry even more reason to be confident that the UK Film Council’s Digital Screen Network will prove a lasting success”.

We at MatCine initially applauded the UK Film Council’s Digital Screen Network initiative, despite its commitment to spend in excess of £17 Million of tax-payers money in setting it up. However, we became cautious once the recipients of UK Film Council largesse were announced. An extraordinary number of multiplex cinemas had apparently expressed an interest in screening specialised movies, while a much lauded repertory art-house such as Riverside in Hammersmith was rejected on the basis that its output was deemed by the Film Council as insignificant, and irrelevant in their overall perception of things.

The advent of the World Cup has given another slant on the multiplex construction of ‘specialised’ entertainment. The Sunday Times on 30^th July 2006 published an article that revealed all:

“At Shepherds Bush in West London and six other Vue cinemas around Britain youngsters will be able to play computer games on the big screen. Their ability to lay on an event such as this is the result of the installation of digital projectors in their cinemas. Traditional analogue equipment is able only to project reels of film on to the big screen. Digital projectors open up a new range of possibilities. For instance, they allow exhibitors to provide video games or broadcast live events such as football matches or pop concerts”.

The article speculates that the main benefit in switching to digital will be for Hollywood studios, yet it identifies the prospects of generating extra revenue from showing concerts or sports events as having appeal to the big cinema chains such as Cineworld, Odeon and Vue.

When interviewed by The Sunday Times, Gerald Buckle, VP Business Affairs of Odeon, disclosed the fact that although Odeon’s average occupancy for film screenings is a mere 10%-15% across the year, Odeon enjoyed occupancy levels of about 30% for the World Cup football matches televised on their big digital screens.

The Sunday Times also interviewed Steve Knibbs, CEO of Vue who, when asked if alternative content will overtake film in ten years, replied, “No……. but it will be a decent proportion of our business”.

Even more worrying for the future of traditional cinema is a comment appearing in an article by Richard Brass in the edition of Screen International for 28th July 2006. Mention is made of cinemas having  "huge potential to vary their offerings particularly once digital becomes widespread", and that cinemas "need to be prepared to rebrand as local auditoria for all kinds of content rather than simply as places to see films".

Time will tell as to whether the Digital Screen Network will, as the UK Film Council claimed at its launch, widen the choice of movie available for the cinema-going public of this country or, as now appears to be the case, the digital equipment it funded will be utilised by multiplex cinemas, in an endeavour to hang on to their youthful audience, in providing a diversity of attractions that have little or no connection with cinema as we know it………..apart from a shared venue. We may in the not too distant future find our multiplex cinemas re-branded as digital entertainment centres, featuring an array of sports events, concerts, video games challenges, merchandising pitches, business seminars.............and perhaps the occasional movie.

At the end of last year Screen International made a prediction, that “digital will increase the fragmentation of audiences”. In the light of what we now know that prognosis looks very likely.

A few weeks back Variety reported, under the heading, “Kids give up seats for seniors” that, with the teen population falling, European exhibitors are turning to ‘oldsters’ to fill the emptying cinema auditoriums. It goes on to talk about “the shrinking number of young folk coming into theatres, and the need to find ways to attract older audiences”.

What Variety found more troubling than the falling birth rate was the competition of myriad digital distractions for the youth market. Variety is of the view that it is not the case that the young youth have stopped watching movies as such. It is simply “they are not watching them in cinemas. Instead, many are staying home and watching movies on DVDs or downloading them”. Obviously this phenomenon is not lost on the likes of Odeon and Vue who now seem keen to embrace non-film activities if that will help them cling on to their youthful audience.  

Back to the present for traditional cinema as we know it; Nick Roddick recently writing in the Evening Standard under the heading, “they know their films, they’re over 40 and they’re cinema’s fastest growing audience”, gave a warm welcome to the MBA………..the Movie Buff Adult……… the fastest growing section of the cinema-going audience. The article reported that “senior citizens are now going back to the cinema in big numbers, while kids in the classic 18-25 demographic, who have dominated Tinseltown thinking for so long, are now so distracted by computer games, blogs and downloadable entertainment that they are more likely to spend time in My Space than watching a movie in a multiplex.”

Misguided ageism on the part of film-bookers still determines much of what audiences are able to get to see at the cinema, particularly at multiplex sites. MatCine’s multi award-winning movie BREAD AND TULIPS was rejected for exhibition by every multiplex cinema chain, as well as by the film-bookers of several large chains of art houses. This movie’s ‘Shirley Valentine’ tale, largely shot in Venice, was rejected on the basis that the middle-aged leading lady, and the even older leading man (played by the legendary, Bruno Ganz), would have little or no appeal to a youthful audience.

Nonetheless, and wherever BREAD AND TULIPS played, the mature audience turned out in significant numbers, and the movie was very warmly received wherever it was screened, as the following demonstrates:

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre,

Dumfries  13.12.05  100% full house (138 tickets sold) 

Strode Theatre,

Street, Somerset  07.06.05 pre-release screening, 234 tickets sold 59.5%

and

08.12.05, 335 tickets sold for a 7.30pm performance 85.24%

Roses Theatre,

Tewkesbury, Gloucs. 23.11.05, 109 tickets sold for a performance…..at 11.00 am 

and  

Riverside Hammersmith

23.09.05    139 tickets sold 70%

24.09.05  173 tickets sold 85% 

 ………..As can be seen, such attendances are far removed from Odeon’s disclosed 10-15% average occupancy across the year. Incidentally, and perhaps significantly, none of these screens (unlike Odeon) were invited to participate in the Digital Screen Network.

In the case of the Movie Buff Adult’s appreciation of the movie, the following says all:   

Ipswich Film Theatre described their audience response as “phenomenal”.

Dundee Contemporary Arts classified it as “Best of the Year”.

Haverford Film Society’s Exit Poll Ratings 2005-2006:-

1   BREAD AND TULIPS  95.45%

2   DOWNFALL 94.79%

3   HOTEL RWANDA 93.75%

4   A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT 92.42%

5   THE LAST MITTERAND 90.62%

6   PRIDE & PREJUDICE 89.20%

7   LADIES IN LAVENDER 84.09%

…………..while in the case of the Matlock Film Society’ their screening from DVD was declared “a great success, and the first film our audience has ever applauded”.

That was typical of the audience response wherever the movie played.   

For now though we are encouraged by cinema-going figures emerging from Australia, and as reported in Sydney Morning Herald a matter of a few days ago, under the heading “ Older Moviegoers are making their presence felt” namely:.

Over 45s make up approximately 24% of all cinemagoers in Australia. 

and in the art-house market, where the older audience is sizeable Dendy, one of the larger art-house chains, reports that the over 45s count for more than 50% of their audience, while the under 24s barely represent 5%.  

The article also reported that “the older audience generally prefer daytime mid-week sessions, old fashioned storytelling, real characters and actors on the slightly older scale”……….where have we heard that before? 

The final word though has to be reserved for Pete Buckingham, UK Film Council’s man in charge of the Digital Screen Network. On hearing of MatCine’s inability to secure a multiplex screen for BREAD AND TULIPS he responded with a comment to the effect that as the multiplex is the future of film in this country and, as MatCine is unable to get its movies screened at multiplex cinemas, it must follow that there is no place for MatCine within the British film industry.

As with the Digital Screen Network…………time will tell if Pete Buckingham is right. Until then we at MatCine will continue to distribute movies that have a primary appeal for an older or more mature audience, and whether or not the multiplex cinemas are prepared to screen them.                            HOME