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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
Karen Stacey, CEO, Digital Cinema Media:
Following the news on Friday 2 October that the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, is moving its release date from November to April 2021, some of our cinema partners are planning to temporarily close selected sites from this month.
While cinemagoers have enthusiastically embraced cinemas reopening since July in the UK, the ever-changing COVID-19 situation, particularly in the US, has led to the studios moving back release dates to 2021.
This demonstrates the importance of cinema to their release strategy, but it has had a dramatic effect on the ability of cinemas to attract customers in the short-term as new content is the lifeblood of our industry.
However, as long as our cinemas remain open and new releases remain on the schedule for Q4, we will still be offering all available opportunities to our advertising partners. For those already booked we will continue to offer flexible options while closely monitoring the admissions available.
While this is undoubtedly a tough time for cinema, from what we have already seen with the performance of Tenet, as soon as new content is released, audiences and advertisers will return to maximise the experience of seeing the big movies on the big screen and we hope our industry will work together over the coming weeks to bounce back from these difficult times.