A week ago, the New York Film Critics Circle chose Tár as Best Film and Cate Blanchett (Tár) and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) as Best Actor and Actress.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named both Everything Everywhere All at Once and Tár as its best picture for 2022. Living actor Bill Nighly and Tár star Cate Blanchett were both named best lead performance.
As I reported in an earlier post, the critics associations’ choices usually do not win the major awards.
Talking about Everything Everywhere All At Once, it has won several small awards as Best Feature. Looking at all categories it has 24 wins and 80 nominations so far. It is probably time to view it if you missed it. (Available on Showtime, and several pay streaming channels)
An alarming trend this season, one that multiple industry insiders and strategists have cited, is the difficulty of getting Academy members to attend in-person screenings. Some voters say COVID fears still loom,while others have grown accustomed to watching films in the Academy Screening Room. Not only the Academy but other organizations, such as BAFTA, have begun allowing additional guests to encourage participation. The Thanksgiving movie box office was dismal, producing its worst grosses in nearly 30 years. I attended two films (Bones and All and Glass Onion) last week and both times the theater was super quiet and only a handful of people at each film. This past weekend (12/9-12) attendance continued to drop. With the CDC again urging wearing masks indoors because of the triple threat I doubt if we will see many people attending Christmas releases. This does not bode well for new projects thinking about starting production for theaters.
The films taking the hardest hits are the prestige dramas. As Brooks Barnes, citing David Gross, stated in the New York Times “The problem is not quality. Reviews have been exceptional. Rather, “people have grown comfortable watching these films at home.” The Banshees of Inisherin has earned $8.5 million in the U.S. and $19.2 million overseas. The new Avatar film is counting on China to help it recover enough to break even. But most of China is still on some form of lockdown and mask requirements. The Fabelmans and Tár have not opened overseas and have each earned about one-fourth of their cost in U.S. sales.
Some distributors are releasing their films to streaming after just 2 to 3 weeks in the theaters. These are usually available at a premium price $19.99. If you have 2 or more watching the film then the price becomes acceptable since it is lower than the theaters. But no figures are available, naturally, on how many single viewers buy this option versus those that wait for the price to drop in a couple of months. On a personal note, I try to balance my weekend viewing between in theater and at home (2 of each).
If I was going to invest in a new business it would be in home theater equipment. But I will continue to support theaters and constantly urge people to attend with me.
WE NEED MOVIES, AND IN TURN, THEY NEED US. SHOW IT BY SHOWING UP.
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