Despite the carnage inflicted by COVID-19, Tom Hanks said that cinemas will “absolutely” survive the pandemic – but will likely be dominated, even more than they already were, by Marvel and other big-budget franchises.
Hanks, when promoting his new western movie, “News of the World”, shared his two cents during a video interview with Collider on Saturday.
“Will cinemas still exist? They sure will, ”said Hanks. “In a way, exhibitors, once opened, will have a freer choice of the films they want to show. And I’m not Cassandra when it comes to that, but I will say that big event movies will rule the day in theaters. “
Hanks speculated that “News of the World” may be one of the last “adult” films, where the plot is driven by “interesting” things that the characters have to say to get to theaters.
Read too: ‘News of the World’ film review: Tom Hanks plays a researcher who reads the legends of the ancient western
“Because after that,” he continued, “to make sure people show up again, we’ll have the Marvel Universe and all kinds of franchises. And some of these films are great. You want to see them in big letters because watching at home on the couch can really diminish them somewhere, in some way, in their visual impact. “
His comments came after a devastating year for the cinema industry, with thousands of exhibitors forced to close due to the pandemic. AMC, the largest movie theater chain in the United States, has seen its stock price plummet 66% since the beginning of the year, with the company recently warning it could run out of money in early 2021.
Moving on, Hanks said that fans occasionally “flock” to theaters to see non-franchised films. But the pandemic, Hanks said, has accelerated a move to watch more content at home that was already underway. This does not necessarily mean that you cannot have an excellent sofa experience, according to Hanks. He said he recently aired HBO’s “Chernobyl” miniseries and felt it was “one of the best films I’ve ever seen”. Likewise, he said that watching the two-night broadcast of “The Bridge on the River Kwai” on TV as a child did not diminish his enjoyment of the film, and showed that “great and engaging” stories can often transcend his environment.
“The change brought about by COVID-19 was a slow train coming in,” said Hanks. “I think there will be a lot of films that will only be broadcast, and it will be good to see them that way, because they are really built and made and built for the good [sized] Widescreen TV in your homes. “
He added: “Without a doubt, we are really on the big curve of change, which has occurred since then.” VHS tapes were introduced. “It went beyond the horizon.”
Read the original story Tom Hanks says cinemas will survive “for sure” – but franchises like Marvel will dominate in the end