Changing times: Where have all the cinemas gone in Cork city?
Queueing at the Capitol Cinema in Cork City in 1947. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive
The Savoy. The Pavilion. The Coliseum. The Capitol. It didn't take long to happen upon a cinema in days gone by when strolling around Cork's city centre. Now, though, the picture has changed. With the temporary closure of the Gate cinema during a change of ownership and refurbishment, the city centre has been left without a mainstream cinema for several months.
There are venues, of course, some more permanent than others. Year-round, Triskel Christchurch operates as an arthouse cinema but leans towards niche offerings rather than mainstream blockbusters. Triskel is also one of the main venues for the Cork International Film Festival (Nov 9-26), which has had to manage without the Gate for this year’s event.
The decline in the number of cinemas certainly isn't unique to Cork, and the sector has been undergoing major upheavals in recent decades. The proliferation of streaming options has increased the quality of home entertainment, and the covid pandemic also dealt a major economic blow. For instance, the Cineworld chain recently sold all its venues in Ireland, the UK, and the US, while The Phoenix in Dingle was one of the local cinemas to close its doors.
And, it is important to note, Cork city centre's Gate cinema is due to reopen: the venue has been taken over by Arc Cinemas, which has three other locations in Ireland, in Wexford, Navan, and Drogheda. Gate cinemas in Mallow and Midleton remain open, and there are also cinemas in Mahon, Ballincollig and Blackpool, so the region isn't entirely lacking in big screens - they're just a little further away from the centre than they used to be.
Why is this the case? Globally, the trends are clear. Streaming is rising, and some cinemas are struggling, save for the handful of blockbusters that land each year. That middle ground of films - the thriller, the indie breakout, the contemporary adult drama - is rarer than ever and now often tends to take the form of a limited television series.
Dr Adele Smith-Auchmuty is an assistant professor in the School of Business at Maynooth University. Together with Aaron Delahunt, who holds an MSc in Business Management from Maynooth University, she published an article posing the question 'Will cinemas and streaming services be able to co-exist?'
The piece charts the performance of Ireland's cinemas through the very turbulent post-covid period, and the simultaneous rise in the use of streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.
Dr. Smith-Auchmuty underlines the idea of destination and experience. She references Kildare Village and other out-of-town shopping centres, such as Mahon Point, where Cork's busiest cinema is located. Multiple services are located in a single space, under one roof and people flock to them.
The trend for shopping has been clear for years: people are gravitating away from traditional brick-and-mortar shops and towards shopping centres or online offerings.
Why would that be any different for cinemagoers?
"Consumers are becoming more discerning, especially when you consider things like the cost-of-living crisis," Dr. Smith-Auchmuty says.
It simply isn't possible to keep offering the same services and facilities and expect the same results when the target market has changed.
Convenience is, of course, a factor too.
Despite some growing frustration with the number of streamers, people continue to turn to Netflix, Disney+ and others in their droves for home entertainment.
In recent weeks, Netflix reported a boost in subscriber growth driven by its new crackdown on password-sharing. Despite shouldering a wealth of bad press when the move was announced, early signs are that it has been successful.
That is bad news for cinemas: even when making it harder to access their product, the streamers are still scooping up customers.
However, 2023 has been somewhat of a banner year for cinemas everywhere, notably with the twin summer smash hits of Barbie and Oppenheimer. In September, Barbie became the first ever film to break €9m at the Irish box office, displacing James Cameron's Avatar as the most successful movie of all time in the Republic.
The release of both films on the same day appears to have driven enormous demand for both, putting film at the centre of culture in a way that doesn't happen too often these days. In Ireland, the simultaneous releases of both films triggered an unprecedented 799,000 admissions in Irish cinemas in just two weeks.
Dr Smith-Auchmuty touches on this event factor as a key in the success of not just these films, but any big-screen product in the last few years.
The sector is "evolving", post-pandemic, says Dr Smith- Auchmuty. "It is no different than any other industry. There is still a lot of love for communal events- people still want to go to the cinema and enjoy those other shared experiences," she says.
This is evident from the recent box office success of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. A three-hour filmed concert, there was never any doubt that Swift's name was going to propel it to the top of the box office charts, but it sharply exceeded box office expectations here and internationally.
In Ireland, it took in over €620,000 in its first weekend, almost five times the second-highest-grossing film at the box office that week (Paw Patrol: The Might Movie, for those who were wondering).
The film's selling point is that it targets the hordes who missed out on tickets to Swift's global sell-out tour. For Irish fans, that tour doesn't arrive until next summer, so it is part of the anticipation.
Dr. Smith-Auchmuty notes there is one key group being targeted by these recent big hits: Gen Z, the cohort born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s.
"A lot of these communal events simply weren't possible during the pandemic but people didn't lose that urge to go out. People are trying to make up for lost time, especially that generation who come of age during a time when they couldn't go out," says Dr. Smith-Auchmuty.
But this demographic isn't simply picking up everything thrown its way, there is a discerning element to it. The industry is going to have to meet them halfway, according to Dr. Smith-Auchmuty.
"Look at the retail sector, and specifically look at the brand that are resonating with Gen Z: they are thriving," she says.
Specifically, fitness and health brands are among those doing particularly well, and they have adapted and adjusted to meet the needs and wants of their audience.
"The offering from the cinema is essentially the same as it was ten or twenty years ago," she said. "And for a generation that has focused on convenience and experience over brand loyalty, that may not always work. The number of brands appearing on shelves is diminishing, people are more selective."
The challenge, of course, is that a Barbenheimer or a Taylor Swift is not a regular phenomenon. The coming months will show a clearer picture of the health of Irish cinemas and whether those customers who made their rare visits during the summer months can be tempted back again.
The impact of the writers' and actors' strikes in the US haven't helped matters in that sense - Warner Bros are among those to partially clear their slate, with Dune 2 among the bigger releases delayed into next year. And next year's calendar is already hurting too: Gladiator 2, the next Mission Impossible film, and the Ghostbusters sequel have all been delayed, leaving a question mark over next summer's box office and the chances of replicating a Barbie-style success.
Between now and Christmas, the bigger releases include the Marvels, a new Aquaman film, and the Wonka film, none of which are looking like absolute bankers, just yet.
The challenges are numerous: streamers, the fact that many people now own 50-inch TVs, and the fact that the covid-related closures broke decades of habit for many people.
There are other factors. Superhero fatigue seems to be a real factor now, with quite a few big-screen cape-and-tights flicks underperforming here and elsewhere.
And while the mega success of Barbie, Oppenheimer, Taylor Swift, and others gives cause for optimism, it isn't a silver bullet. These films don't come around very often and cinemas need to adjust to ensure they can meet their audiences halfway during off-seasons.
In the meantime, Cork will soon have an improved Gate cinema that will hopefully draw film fans back to the city centre.
