Cannes 2022 has begun – but what does the future hold for cinema?

After facing the challenges of Covid-19, what the industry does at this critical stage will have long-lasting consequences for the future, writes Talal Malik

Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise graced the Cannes red carpet for the first time in 30 years to premiere ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

The world’s most glamorous film festival, the Festival de Cannes, commenced its 75th event on 17 May, and Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise graced its red carpet for the first time in 30 years to premiere Top Gun: Maverick – the sequel to his 1986 blockbuster. It is, therefore, a timely opportunity to take stock of where the cinema industry is and envisage its potential next quantum leap.

Cinema remains the world’s most powerful cultural art form in both its global impact and commercial firepower, but it is at a turning point. After facing the challenges of Covid-19, what the industry does at this critical stage will have long-lasting consequences for the future.

Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, has said that entertainment is “the most cut-throat, competitive, difficult business in the world.” The world’s entertainment capital is, undoubtedly, Hollywood; the pinnacle of entertainment is cinema; and the pinnacle of cinema, from the industry’s perspective, is the blockbuster.

What the global cinema industry needs is significant innovation that takes advantage of current and future technologies, in five main areas.

The first is in institutionalisation and scaling of access to capital for producers and content creators at the development stage, akin to angel investment in start-ups. The start-up ecosystem that first evolved in Silicon Valley and has been since replicated globally, can be adapted for cinema. Intellectual property presides as the best form of investment with remaining, untapped potential.

The second concerns cast and crew. From actors, directors and producers to cinematographers and editors, technology allows for a near-exponential ability to cast anyone, anywhere, from any (recent) time. Deepfake technology allows for the creation of the digital avatars of today’s actors, not only as their younger selves, but of the deceased actors of the past via their estates, utilising the bankability of yesteryear as well varied iterations of various characters.

The third is about the cinema itself. The cinema needs to become like a community centre, shopping mall or theme park, where the experience for the cinema-goer is enhanced while maximising revenue for the industry. This way, the number of hours spent in the theatre itself can expand beyonda film’s runtime, to a day out at the cinema. The life cycle of both old and new releases can also be extended through re-releases, recaps and marathons.

The fourth innovation in cinema is the concept of collectibles, tangible and intangible assets. With the rise of streaming and digital collectibles like NFTs, there has been a neglect of tangible collectibles such as video cassettes, DVDs and Blu-ray. They have become largely for connoisseur fans of films. The cinema industry needs to focus on what the Blu-ray of tomorrow – the tangible physical product of the movie – looks like, and how its use can be scaled.

This is where producers become hugely important – it is in the physical product of the movie, which the cinema-goer can hold in their hands, touch and feel, that there can be the unique add-on, separate from the theatrical experience.

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A signed autograph of an actor can normally only be obtained by standing for hours at a major premiere and this cannot, by definition, be paperless. It is critical that the boxed set of a movie enjoys a revival and is scaled to appeal to the mainstream, and that this adds tangible value beyond the theatrical experience.

The fifth innovation for the cinema industry is globalised bespoke content, where technology allows content to be catered to different global audiences and demographics, enabling a more collaborative approach between the content creator and the cinema-goer.

For example, content creators will need to decide how adaptable their content can be at the expense of box office revenue versus their creative principles. Another aspect of this is representation, and how much cinema audiences want to see films where they feel represented. Those in the industry able to navigate this space of globalised bespoke content will reap the greatest financial rewards as a result.

These potential innovations in the cinema industry are valuable because they are all possible, strategic and immediately monetisable, and can help the industry to not only survive, but genuinely thrive.

Talal Malik is the CEO and lead producer for Alpha1Media, a global media and entertainment firm