I'd like to start this Feature with an apology. Activity on the site has been practically nil for the last couple of months, and that is unacceptable. As I have said before; I have been seeing films, but have simply lacked the time to review them afterwards. However, with a new review going up recently I hope to have turned a rather unproductive corner, and will have a couple more ready to go over the next few days. There's a flow the site should have that ceased for too long, but it should be restored in the very near future.

With that all said, I now want to talk about the economy. Pretty much every major country in the world is now going through some form of economic hardship, be it a full-blown recession or just a lingering credit crunch. For film-makers, this is a worrying time. Invested money isn't getting the interest it used to, stocks and shares have fallen almost universally, and weak exchange rates are hammering certain currencies. And on top of all of this, they have to produce products that cost a heck of a lot of money to make. From their point of view, money is tight, and projects should be approached with sense of caution – particularly if they appear risky.

And yet, almost bizarrely, an economic downturn is good news for them in a way which relates to the public at large. I was not surprised to read that cinema chains were posting healthier profits than anticipated last year, and I expect this trend to continue in 2009. The UK chain Cineworld had its best ever year in 2008 – with tickets sold up 4% - and my suspicion is that they'll top this increase this year.

It might seem strange for any trade involving the public forking over money to get more business during harsh economic times, but think about it from a logical point of view. Admittedly some people will tighten their belts to such a degree that even the occasional trip to the cinema will be ruled out. But what about those who want to go out, but are conscious of their budget for the first time in a few years? Suddenly it's no to the £100 dinner and yes to the £25-30 trip to the cinema. For the more artistically geared, suddenly it's no to the £125 for a couple of concert tickets – or even double that for a major opera performance – and yes to seeing some Best Picture nominees, critically lauded hidden gems, or even the latest opera broadcast from the Met into their local cinema. Instead of going away at Easter, why not take the family out for a nice meal and a good film? There are absolutely loads of hypothetical examples you can think of whereby someone would go for the cinema option for their daily/weekly/monthly entertainment specifically because it represents the best value for money.

And you don't have to be an economic genius to realise that this is good news for studios. If they were going to approach the current situation from a practical point of view, my suspicion is that they'd commission more inclusive films, but made for more modest sums. You can see how this might limit the field in terms of quality, but at the end of the day studios have to respond to the market if they want to survive. What I don't think we'll see for the next year or so are very many films with $200 million budgets being given the go-ahead, unless they came with a money-making predecessor. I can imagine a Transformers 3, but not a Golden Compass 2, as it were.

I also suspect that cinema chains will do all they can to get more people in the door; at least they should do if they have any sense. It's a widely-known fact that cinemas make precious little money from the tickets they sell, and that most of their profit comes from concessions. So expect some manoeuvres on this front as well; a popcorn version of the KFC 'Family Feast', or special deals for couples. Even expect deals on tickets to get people through the doors, so they'll then spend plenty on armfuls of snacks and drinks.

You are now probably wondering how all this is beneficial to the people who actually go the cinema. After all, why should we care that the studios will revert even more to type, and churn out more predictable mush? Why should we care that the 1,000% mark-up – or whatever it is – on popcorn will help Odeon and Cineworld make bundles of cash? We should care for two reasons; one economic and one cinematic. The likelihood that cinemas will offer deals, prices alterations and things of that ilk to get us into their seats is pretty high. For anyone looking for entertainment on a more reasonable budget, this is undeniably a good thing. But perhaps even more importantly, if we are lured to the cinema by cheap tickets and discounted popcorn, and as a result see something quite spectacular that we wouldn't necessarily have seen otherwise, isn't that just good news in itself?

© David Mercier
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