EXCLUSIVE: Cinemas are set to reopen on the weekend of August 21, which will also be the first major theatrical release since cinemas were shut down amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
Theater chains across the country have spent months preparing for the big day after several plans for postponement were postponed due to COVID-19 spikes in several cities, but this time the opening for real – and “Unhinged,” the way – Rage thriller starring Russell Crowe, offers to test the waters of how eager filmgoers may be in their place as the first major theatrical release.
“I’m actually pretty optimistic that the theater industry will return,” Mark Gill, CEO of Solstice Studios – the company behind the film – told Fox News.
He went on to say: “And I realize that there may be some exceptions and because these are really tough times, there may be some companies that need to go through. But I think it seems like as long as this late summer and autumn work out that people are persistent and the thing we’ve all seen so much lately is that the two worst words in the English language at the moment are ‘my bank’. ‘
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“The last thing I want to do is stay home one more night,” Gill added. ‘That it is certainly true that streamers are really valuable for providing a great service and people who like to do some of the time but not all the time. People also want to leave the house. ”
Gill said the $ 33 million film saw success during its international release, which he said the company used as a barometer to measure the potential cashier success “Unhinged” could have had during its US debut.
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“Europe is probably a slightly different story than Australia, which also opened up. Australia, I think, is probably a little bit closer to comparison, ”Gill explained. ‘And there are two reasons for that: one of them is the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is, is closed. That that’s about 30% of the theaters, that sounds pretty similar to what we’re probably up against here. And the other thing is, just when surveying moviegoers, Australians were more than Americans – what’s more of the immediate demand for exits to go out, while Europeans tend to be a little more cautious. That will probably be more of a slow burn. ”
Gill added: “In Australia they just did phenomenally well. I mean, they did better than we would expect them to do in non-COVID times. Let’s hope this happens here. ”
‘Unhinged,’ starring Russell Crowe, will be the first major theatrical release since the coronavirus-shattered cinema pandemic last spring.
(Solstice Studios)
Despite the positive appearance of the release of ‘Unhinged’, which Crowe sees as a commuter stalker, Gill acknowledged that he is both ‘terrible and upset’ at the chance to debut a film in such sad and uncertain times.
“Well, it’s scary and exciting at the same time, because on the one hand no one knows what and even knows what could happen,” he said. ‘And on the other hand, we made this movie for $ 33 million and if we do about $ 30 million at the box office, then we’re in good shape. That it’s not one $ 200 million movie that should earn a fortune at the office. ”
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The studio director further stated that the release plan for “Unhinged” was quickly shifted to not compete with major franchise offerings such as “A Quiet Place 2” and “Tenet” and also said that there was no chance that Solstice would go the route of releasing the film to leave digital as was the case with “Trolls: Worlds Tour” and what will happen to Disney’s “Mulan.”
“We are set up to be a company that puts films into theaters. That would do something against what we do, ‘Gill added. ‘And we sat down on September 4th and then moved’ A Quiet Place 2 ‘there and then we just thought,’ Maybe we’ll move to next year ‘- and it just looked really full. So, we said, ‘What if we went first?’ ”
Gill said in deciding to continue with the release “Unhinged”, the studio received great feedback and appreciation of difficulty with independent cinemas, many of which were just days of closing their doors for good.
‘We always saw it as something we would do in theaters and one of the fun things is that the theater owners really go out of their way to promote it because they are grateful that we support theaters when it seems like too many people run away from them, ”he said.
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“And these are the substances of America – small businesses, right? I mean, so many theaters are independently owned and operated by a family or two people who form a partnership. But they are small businesses, ”Gill said. ‘There are of course three big chains, but there are many other types of small businesses that depend on the flow of films and we hear from them all the time saying,’ Thank you so much for doing this. We really need movies to survive. ‘”
Gill said Crowe and company were envious of building the film prior to its release, especially given the 225 people Solstice hired to make it while filming in New Orleans, La., And his post-production in Los Angeles. Angeles.
Oscar Award winner Russell Crowe plays Tom Cooper in the new driving thriller for road.
‘He has been phenomenal about it. He kind of doubled it up, because there’s usually a lot of publicity that you can reasonably hope the star of a movie would do if they were really into it and they like the movie, what he does. ” said Gill of Crowe. “And that’s why we got that, but we got that double.”
Added Gill of the Oscar winner added: “He’s just so leaned into this and part of it he said, ‘If you get the chance to play in the road while there’s no traffic, wait you’re not going to get back on the road and then play. You’re playing now. “And that’s our view, that is, this is the moment that there is no competition and that it is not” Do you want to go to the go to the movies? It’s just, “Do you want to go to the movie?” And there will be one choice. “
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Gill insisted that he no doubt wanted the vast majority of American audiences to leave their homes – even if for a few hours of cinematic escape from the real world.
‘What’s interesting is, I think what’s happened is people are so excited about being able to go back to the movies in general, and if you’re just the first one, it’s a pretty good thing. And that looks like it’s gonna happen, “he said before he quipped,” I have crossed my fingers and yes, I have a very deep lump in my stomach. A bit of both. ”
Although “Unhinged” will debut over 2,000 theater locations, which is much less than it would be under a normal release, Gill said he’s just happy that Solstice was able to use something in the midst of the pandemic while making a movie “worth to go to a theater. ”
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‘It has been terrible. Yes, it has been really terrible and it is terrible in most countries in the world, ‘he complained. “I mean, Europe has just started to bring back production. You know, we’re not there yet, really here in the US – there’s something and here it’s happening. And if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of truly talented freelancers who make movies and TV shows, there’s almost no work. It’s awful. It has been really bad. ”
“The thing we do is really need more people,” he continued. ‘The movies that are worth going to a theater, it’s pretty rare that one of these is filmed in any way other than with a pretty big crew and a heavy employment list and a lot of broadcasts and all that. So now it’s really hard. There are so many places, most of the country, you can not gather enough people to do that. And it’s just that – it’s hard now. Hopefully it will get better, but of course we need to get to the place where the public health departments allow us to work back. ”
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Given the strict production guidelines that have been put in place since then to restore film production, Gill said with the support of those in the know, the protocols have finally been put in place.
‘It’s all worked out between the producers and the studios and the unions. And that is actually with a lot of help from scientists and epidemiologists, ”he explained. ‘That’s all worked out, I think. And everyone is comfortable with it. It lasted several weeks. I think of a month for everyone to figure out exactly how to do it, but we all have a set of standards that we stick to, if we allow this to happen again, we know what we need to do. ”
“Unhinged” is set to be released on August 21 in the US.
