WHAT TO EXPECT FROM YOUR LOCAL CINEMA IN MAY WHEN THEY RE-OPEN!
22nd April 2021
Cinemas in the U.K are finally opening May 17th. It’s been a long time coming and will take us all to support to help the industry repair and flourish once again.
Streaming has become second nature and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Disney and the likes of HBO have totally reinvented the way we consume our films and TV now.
Having said that the experience of watching a film like “Bond”, “The Avengers”, “Star Wars” or even a huge animation like “Soul” is always going to be better surrounded by other people in a cinema location. Great sound, ambience and the fact you can’t put it on pause and go for a toilet break or get distracted by social media, email pings or anything else makes going to the movies irreplaceable.
So what you can expect to see from May 17 as all major cinemas will be reopening including some smaller art house ones. It looks like family favourite “Peter Rabbit 2” will be the first alongside the Bafta winning simply beautiful “Nomadland”. Followed by “Cruella” “Quiet Place 2” and MARVEL’s “Black Widow”.
The rest of the year is packed with big releases like “No Time To Die” the highly anticipated “Bond” movie starring Daniel Craig ( final one for him) also Candyman, The Suicide Squad, “The Father” “Dune” “The Matrix 4” “Batman” and the latest “Fast & Furious” movie.
Most cinemas have their full listings up already so just hit up your local chain and see what’s on. Safety wise, it’s still going to be very different with scattered screenings, social distancing and masks being worn, this will no doubt change as government guidelines are updated during the coming months.
I do wonder what will happen with smaller more independent films that some may argue don’t need to be enjoyed on the big screen and can be watched from home on a streaming platform. Movies like “Sound Of Metal” and “Host” have proven audiences are happy to watch indie films from the comfort of their sofa now? I’m staying optimistic however with “The Father” and “Nomadland” both huge award show winners and added to the current cinema bill to be viewed on the big screen this year, hopefully will show the need for a choice and allows us to see big budget spectacular movies and beautiful heartfelt stories in our local cinemas! The end of the day we are the audience and we can make noise by choosing to support both right.
The BFi will reopen with a new programme reflecting the time, featuring Her Voice, focusing on black female singers going from the spotlight to the screen; Robert Altman, a retrospective of the great American outsider; and Dream Palace, a celebration of the big screen, with films handpicked by Edgar Wright, Asif Kapadia, Gurinder Chadha and many more…
There are also various events and outdoors Drive In style cinemes happening across the country, check your local listings for more.
It’s worth mentioning that in the case of the big chain cinemas like Cineworld and the Odeon they have a deal in place with Warner Brothers and other big studios that the films get shown with them first for 31 days before any streaming site gets their paws on them. So if you are like me and want to see everything the first week of release, cinema is your best option.
