BY NICK SMITH
Moviegoing isn’t as straightforward as it was a couple of years ago but for film lovers. If you don’t mind wearing a mask, you can go to see blockbusters like Spider-Man No Way Home as well as excellent arthouse movies such as A24’s The Green Knight.
If this year’s top box office earners are anything to go by, the big studios are thriving. In its first few weeks, Spider-Man earned over a billion dollars. Second was The Battle at Lake Changjin, a Chinese film about troops defeating Americans in a Korean battle, with over $900 million; Hi, Mom, a Chinese comedy, earned over $800 million; and the latest James Bond film No Time to Die made three quarters of a billion.
While the film industry as a whole is surviving, workers have been adversely affected by the COVID testing restrictions enforced by their unions. If a crewmember or actor tests positive, they cannot work on a set. If they’ve been in contact with their colleagues, the whole film can shut down for a time. The Will Smith runaway slave film Emancipation, was put on hiatus only two weeks into filming in New Orleans after a small number of crew tested positive for COVID. The industry journal Deadline described this as using an, ‘abundance of caution.’
While production has been curtailed, the public still wants to watch movies. But not everyone is ready to go back to theaters. At 21, my son is in the prime demographic that Hollywood makes films for, yet he doesn’t want to be in a crowded theater and risk catching a virus. Seniors have the same concerns. COVID has also affected supply chains and food prices, which makes life more difficult for privately-owned theaters like Fort Walton Beach’s Suds n Cinema.
‘We showed a couple of documentaries in conjunction with NPR and PBS,’ says Rodney Walker, Suds’ Chief Financial Officer. ‘They drew in a new, older crowd who are much more price sensitive.’ Walker has noticed that younger, working-class people don’t baulk at the price increases that are a side-effect of COVID. ‘They understand what’s happening. Retirees aren’t exposed to what’s going on in the world every day.’
Despite younger audiences isolating themselves and older ones watching their health and their wallets, Suds has seen ups as well as downs this year. ‘We’re blessed that we were able to survive,’ says Walker, ‘it helped that our state opened up.’
While Florida was open, the big movie chains stayed closed. The other two theaters in Fort Walton are both owner by Regal; when they shut down for the pandemic, Suds was the only game in town with access to popular, first-run movies.
‘Spider-Man was sold out for three weeks,’ Walker says, ‘we were at full capacity. We’re getting close to where we were before COVID.’
Regal has reopened but Suds remains a prominent fixture downtown. It’s hard to miss its retro frontage and marquee. ‘When the area is redeveloped, they will need special permission for us,’ explains Walker, ‘the theater building is a historical landmark.’ The building has existed for over 80 years. For the theater to survive, though, its owners have to get creative.
‘In 2022, I’d like to see us focus on private functions and parties during non-movie times,’ Walker hopes, ‘and we’d like to partner with the school system more.’ Instead of watching a documentary in history class, students could watch an educational film in Suds. ‘It would be a field trip and a class, a special experience for the kids. When I was in school, we had to watch Excalibur, that would be something awesome to show.’
Suds n Cinema is a great example of how important one small business can be to a community, from employment to education to its role as a focal point for locals to gather. It’s reassuring to see the theater planning for the future. ‘A lot of people who didn’t know about us, found out about us because we stayed open,’ says Walker, ‘but COVID was super hard. It’s been a journey.’
