Embassy 3 Cinema assistant manager Emma Carson weighs up this week's options. Photo / Bevan Conley
Embassy 3 Cinema assistant manager Emma Carson weighs up this week's options. Photo / Bevan Conley
As moviegoers gear up for two of the biggest blockbuster releases of the year, theatres are celebrating the expected box office boon and the survival and adaption of the cinema industry.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer both open in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday to much anticipation, withthe stark contrast between the two creating the internet phenomenon dubbed “Barbenheimer”.
Gary Vinnell, owner of Whanganui’s Embassy 3, expected Barbie to “go nuts”. “I’m not too sure on Oppenheimer, to be honest.
“You’ve got adults, parents now that were brought up with Barbie, you’ve got children that are involved with Barbie in some respects so both of those will go really well and the film itself is spread right across the age groups.”
Focal Point Cinema and Cafe Feilding owner Matt Bell said a “Barbie frenzy” was on the way.
“It ticks a lot of boxes in terms of having a fun day or night out.
“I would say Oppenheimer might be a slower burn. It could be a bit more measured but it’s a must-see type movie.”
Vinnell said Barbie’s expansive marketing campaign would also help with its release but that was left up to the film distributors rather than individual cinemas.
He was less sure about what audiences Oppenheimer would draw as it was pitched towards a very different group of people and had an R rating. J Robert Oppenheimer was the scientist who spearheaded the development of the atomic bomb.
Hāwera Cinema 2 manager Kirty Bourke said she was predicting Barbie to be a big hit.
”We have an event happening tonight [Wednesday] and it’s a sellout, so that’s an indication.”
There was still interest in Oppenheimer but that movie was “a bit more under the radar”, Bourke said.
“It hasn’t quite got the hype that Barbie does. Everywhere you look there are pink things at the moment. Everyone has got on the Barbie bandwagon.”
She said the cinema industry was still clawing its way back from Covid-19.
“There is still a percentage of the population that wants to go out and see a movie on a big screen and socialise.
“Not everyone wants to watch the movies in their lounge.”
The first Barbie event in Hāwera is a sellout, cinema manager Kirsty Bourke says. Photo / Bevan Conley
Embassy 3 cinema-goer Janice Waugh wasn’t there to watch either movie, saying Indiana Jones was more her cup of tea.
Barbie definitely wasn’t.
“I do plan on seeing Oppenheimer, I’ll just have to wait for the next pension day,” she said.
“The history of it is really interesting. It will be great to find out more about the guy.”
The cinema industry was very good at reinventing itself, Bourke said
Hawera Cinema 2 now had a gin bar.
“A lot of cinemas don’t only provide the movies. They have cafes, bars and restaurants as part of their complex.
“They offer the complete experience. It’s about having a social outing.”
Vinnell said cinema had been registering a steady upward climb in audiences.
“We have back in place what [the industry] call a window, so we have a window of a couple of months to screen new release films now, we don’t expect streaming services to impact on that.”
He believed the increase was because of people getting annoyed with streaming services, and the products of streaming being old.
Both audiences and film companies recognised there was something special about seeing films in the cinema.
“Film distributors and companies out of Hollywood have all decided the best place to put their film to start with is back in the cinema because that’s where they cast the best media coverage,” Vinnell said.
Bell said the death knell of cinema had been sounded since television became popular.
“That was the 1950s and 1960s. Then there were videos in the 1980s, DVDs and Blu-Rays, and online streaming.
“Whether it’s legally or illegally, people can get access to content quite quickly, but it’s still not the same as seeing it on the big screen and going out and enjoying the experience.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, three of the previous four years were record box-office years for New Zealand, Bell said.
“Streaming was full-on then as well.
“I’ve watched movies at the cinema that come to TV a couple of years later. I’ll think ‘Cool, that was a good movie’ but it’s just not the same.”
