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The incredible success of Ryan Cooglerâs new vampire movie Sinners, set in the Jim Crow South (screening all over Winnipeg; itâs excellent) has pundits buzzing about what it takes to get people back into movie theatres (some might say it just takes a double dose of Michael B. Jordan but I guess thatâs not a feasible solution in the long term).
At Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman theorizes that Hollywood needs to start making 100 movies a year that people want to see â which sounds like overly obvious advice, until you realize that many more films than that are released every year.
He stresses that heâs not talking about tentpoles or Marvel juggernauts, but a bunch of mid-budget movies aimed at adults.
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They donât need to be awards fodder, either. But studios should stop sending perfectly serviceable rom-coms and dramas and thrillers straight to streaming.
On X, Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri points out that Gleibermanâs assessment fails to take into account one important thing: visibility.
âThere are plenty of films being made that people will want to see, but they donât know those movies exist,â he writes.
The responses to his post were immediate and mostly in agreement. Readers pointed out that not only have most traditional venues for advertising become obsolete, theatres no longer even post the weekâs showings on street-facing marquees.
âNo more newspaper ads because we killed print,â Ebiri concurred on X. âNo more TV spots (except during the Super Bowl) because we killed commercial TV. Magazines axed listings sections. Banner ads are invisible. Online trailers are consumed & forgotten. Social media pops a small handful of titles.â
Obviously, I take some issue with his first point, although heâs not wrong about studios no longer taking out ads in print media. But I would stress that the ads were never the only way â and not ever the best way â to find out whatâs in local theatres.
If, like me, you cherish the experience of watching a movie with chair-shaking Dolby Surround Sound and a giant bucket of popcorn, your best bet is to pick up a Free Press or visit our website every Friday, when writer Alison Gillmor reviews a prominent new release and the arts production team picks through online listings and scours the wire services to find reviews of all the other films playing in the city, from Dave Barber Cinematheque to McGillivray VIP.
And now is a great time to invest in local journalism, as Winnipeg artist Kal Barteski has collaborated with the Free Press on a line of merchandise celebrating both our country and our newspaper.
Her mugs, totes, shirts and stickers are a reminder that we enjoy the benefits of a truly free press in this country, and a nudge to help fund a paper that brings Manitoba readers stories about their communities and their culture.
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