Cowboys And Aliens, coming soon at the Liberty Lite.
The Liberty Lite is supposed to be a different sort of theatre, nestled behind the Liberty in Colpetty. Is it?
Word on the street was that Liberty cinemas was using a niche in their property to open a niche theatre. Recent movies, decent picture and sound. The model Majestic followed for their physical niche was to simply move the main film over into a 10 ft wide space that smells of pee. So this is definitely a better idea.
I finally went yesterday (to see Super 8) and I must say that I like their upcoming movie selection – Cowboys And Aliens, Rise Of Planet Of The Apes and I think Murder 2 (Bollywood, with a Sri Lankan actress). That said, the sound and projection are mediocre at best (sound is actually quite bad, crackle like the ocean) and the theatre was empty. I fear this business model will not last.
Just like the default trishaw driver’s ringtone is now ‘Broken Angel’, whatever commodified crap America produces will likely be popular here. With movies, stuff like Thor (decent) or Transformers (dreck) will be popular and things like Super 8 or Cowboys And Aliens likely will not. I loved Super 8, but our 7 o’clock showing only had like 10 people in it, half of them foreign. The theatre seems to seat around 100. It’s fine for watching, but they can’t be making money.
For my sake, I hope they do. Really looking forward to Cowboys And Aliens.
“Just like the default trishaw driver’s ringtone is now ‘Broken Angel’, whatever commodified crap America produces will likely be popular here”
A MUTHA FUCKING MEN
What they should do is show a variety of movies for short durations, unlike the main theatres that show a movie for weeks.. Perhaps even have a retro day where they play old movies.. Something different to the norm.. I went for Fast Five and the sound was alright, but at least the hall was packed.. Hopefully they change things up..
I don’t understand why Sri Lanka has such poor cinemas. Perhaps it’s because SL does not have a movie going culture and the vast majority of movies being screened are B grade soft pornos. It’s sad in a way because I think films can really broaden one’s mind. Going to watch a movie at the cinemas just does not register highly among leisurely things to do in a typical Sri Lankan family.
SO true.
The reason would be that downloading things of the internet is much more cheaper and convenient than getting on a vehicle, idling in traffic and then getting the House Full sign slammed on you. Thats pretty much the problem. The theaters close to home screen cheap shit-ass movies from the US or India and the ones in the hub of the city show the high budgeted ones.
Also another reason I realized was the crowd. Small cinemas in towns attract alot of hooligans who get drunk, snap pics and annoy couples. Some of these cinemas are very unhygienic. Some people simply do not know that they should either take their screaming toddler outside or not bring him/her when going to a movie. :S
Sri lanka needs Multiplexes. That way people have choice if one hall is full.
I’m not sure if film theaters have a future. Home entertainment will most likely replace it. We’ll see 2160p TVs in our homeand we’ll be able to download all the new movie releases and play them at these resolutions.
Omr,
the cinema industry was ruined by state interference in the 1970’s. The National Film Corporation was given the sole right to import films and decide which cinema’s could show them. Not surprisingly what the public wanted and what the corporation could import (some studios were unwilling to break existing contracts with local cinema;s so they refused to sell to the NFC) so attendance fell and the movie industry became loss-making. The only way the government could keep cinema’s from being torn down was by passing a law that if a cinema was knocked down a new cinema would need to be erected in in the same place.
There has been liberalisation and a gradual improvement in cinema’s since the 1990’s but by then they were competing with television and VCR so the growth was stunted.
I suppose the issue is that the theater experience is often crappier than watching it at home. If you have an HD screen and a decent stereo, you get a better quality experience at home. If you have an Internet connection, you can download the same or better stuff.
That said, Liberty Lite is generally non-offensive, the online ticketing (ticketslk.com) works and gets you through any line and – most importantly – they have movies I want to see. Cowboys And Aliens for example, is new so what you get online are un-watchable cam copies. So, in that sense the business works for me, but I don’t see how it works for Liberty.
Honestly, the mass market is for commercial dreck. Rather than trying to cater to a English speaking elite that will never go into theatres, I think they’d be better off opening theaters in Kurunegala or Jaffna and running more screenings of Transformers.
IMO theaters can still work as long as
1) They give a good experience to the visitor (well maintained facilities and modern equipment)
– I remember wanting to watch Machang in a theater but I end up not going because it was shown only in crappy places.
2) Screen movies that are good while they are still new (before there is a DVD release by which time you can download it freely)
– This is the only way to counter internet. There are movies which you have to watch in a good theater, to fully experience it. No TV can give you the same experience. Others of course look same on TV and large screen. But a theater can get away by showing them as long as they do it before a DVD/BR version is available.
I believe even English speaking elite will go to theater to watch even local productions if they are good (not just cheap comic) and well marketed using properly made trailers and screened in well maintained well equipped theaters.
Interesting points.
But I suppose a large part of the problem is the common man/women’s mentality? Going to the movies really does not figure in a typical Sri Lankan family. A trip to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, yes, but not to the cinemas to watch the movie on the big screen. It does not seem like something even couples would do as a means of spending time together.
Agree. Most cinemas in SL are just not up to standard, and they are most certainly NOT family friendly.
For Hollywood movies to work in Sri Lanka they must have native language subtitles. I know a lot of people who are not interested in watching English films unless they are subtitled in Sinhala – which is fair enough — I mean I would want a French film, for example, to be subtitled in English before I paid any money to watch it on the big screen simply because I don’t understand French all that well.
The market formed by the English speaking elite is just too small to sustain a profitable cinema industry in the country.
Cowboys and Aliens sound the the most idiotic film possible. Just because cowboys and indians is no longer politically acceptable I suppose.
I saw the shorts a to a Tintin film that is coming up and that looks awesome.
It’s brilliant, given the cowboys & indians dynamic