“If as an industry we think we can rest on our laurels and young people will continue to go to the cinema without offering them a great experience we are sadly mistaken.”
With continued paucity of product from the US and other international territories, Australian films remain the main event at the box office.
Drive-in cinemas in Adelaide and Heddon Greta near Newcastle resumed trading last Friday, drawing big crowds, as a survey of more than 20,000 Australians showed 98 per cent look forward to cinemas re-opening.
Sasha Close, one of Australia's most respected exhibitors, has resigned as national programming manager at Wallis Cinemas after 16 years with the Adelaide-based company.
The floodgates opened last weekend with more than a dozen new releases led by 'The Personal History of David Copperfield', plus several re-issues as more cinemas resumed trading.
Five new mainstream titles entered the market last weekend - but none could beat the third frame of Warner Bros' Tenet, which is benefiting from repeat business.
In his 63 years as a film programmer, Bob Parr had never experienced anything like the current crisis as ticket sales flatlined across the country over the past few weeks.
Universal's 'The Invisible Man' is getting a second lease of theatrical life thanks to drive-ins and newly re-opened cinemas in Western Australia, Adelaide and Alice Springs.