Screening Room is the Future of the Moviegoing experience
An Open Letter to James Cameron & Jon Landau
You know, I find it rather amusing that after the announcement was made that several filmmakers in the industry were in support of Sean Parker’s Screening Room initiative, you have inadvertently become the exibitors’ versions of John Connor (Cameron) and Kyle Reese (Landau), leading a resistance in name of preserving the cinematic experience, and I’m totally cool with this, truly.
I have no doubt in my mind that audiences within the next 15 to 20 years will still go to the movies, especially YOUR movies. I think what you have done to progress the technology of the cinematic experience, i.e. 3-D, has given us some of the best films of the last seven years. Films like Gravity, Life of Pi, and Tron: Legacy have shown audiences that there are truly no limits in telling a story.
As much as cinephiles, like you and me would like to admit, we can’t help to romanticize the experience of collectively viewing a movie in a dark room. To which I still say that there’s still something alluring and amazing that experience can be. I also can’t help myself but to acknowledge the harsh and bitter reality that in a world where advancements in technology are endlessly afoot, a well-spring of alternatives with which we can see your films will naturally bleed into the first-run market. We hate to admit it, but that reality is becoming more apparent with each subsequent year. In fact, consumers are experiencing that now with some limited release movies like Beasts of No Nation, Chi-Raq, & Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2, where they’re simultaneously streaming while running in a Cineplex.
I’m not saying that the Cineplex will completely die out — there will still be movie theaters, but only the best ones that truly value the consumer’s overall experience. I still think you’re completely in the wrong about VR not catching on when, all things considered, is the next logical step on giving consumers the option to watch one of your movies in a virtual cinema — or to add exclusive content that further adds value to the experience. A great example of this is if you get a crew together to create a completely simulated tour of the TITANIC with yourself, along with a plethora of historians telling us a detailed history of this grand ship. Another perfect implementation of said tech is that we can roam of the world of Pandora by flying on Jake Sully’s Ichran.
What I’m saying that the community at hand cannot afford to be romantic about the cinematic experience. When silent film actors were introduced to the world of films with sound, it was originally scoffed…until it made money. When Blockbuster had a chance to buy Netflix for 50 million dollars, they decided not to on the basis that they say it didn’t add value to their current business model. Netflix is worth about 29 Billion today. Hell, even 3D movies were viewed as novelty by studios, until your film grossed boatloads of cash. The gist of this is that the market is the market is the market. The market doesn’t care what you think about this and streaming first run films in the comfort of your own home is an option that is moving closer to reality.
