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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in

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Speaker 1: which we talked with some of the brightest minds working

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Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety

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Speaker 1: Intelligence platform. Lemley Theaters is a well known brand in

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Speaker 1: and around Los Angeles for the seven theaters it owns

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Speaker 1: and operates, only it hasn't been doing much operating lately.

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Speaker 1: While theaters are just beginning to reopen nationwide, the exhibitions

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Speaker 1: and business is still down in the key markets for

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Speaker 1: New York and Los Angeles. To talk about the state

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Speaker 1: of his business in these challenging times, I am joined

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Speaker 1: by the company CEO, Greg Lemley. Greg, good to have

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Speaker 1: you here. To be here, Andrew, thank you. So how

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Speaker 1: are you and your business holding up under these difficult circumstances. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean I'm healthy, so I've got that to be

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Speaker 1: thankful for. But I don't know, I mean businesses, Um,

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Speaker 1: we're hanging by a threat um and if if we

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Speaker 1: can't reopen at some point relatively soon, it's it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be difficult because certain expenses, I mean, we've you know,

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Speaker 1: certain expenses just continue. Um, We've gotten some reprieve or

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Speaker 1: relief on rents, but utilities are still happening. There's still

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Speaker 1: some skeleton staff arounds. Um, it's just it's hard. You

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Speaker 1: can't shut down entirely, but you have had to let

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Speaker 1: go of most of your staff almost entirely within a week,

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Speaker 1: within the week of the notice, and that we should

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Speaker 1: point out, I mean that amounts to hundreds of people

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Speaker 1: here in Los Angeles. Correct. Yes, we've probably had at

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Speaker 1: the time of the shutdown. My recollection is a undred

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Speaker 1: twenty employees and we basically went to four. So as

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Speaker 1: you look at the news like we all do day

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Speaker 1: to day, I guess you're looking for signs of the

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Speaker 1: pandemic perhaps subsiding in this market, allowing the exhibition and

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Speaker 1: business to come back. Do you feel it's imminent because

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Speaker 1: the latest indications don't look good right, Well, I mean

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Speaker 1: almost from the start it felt like, oh, you know,

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Speaker 1: based on other countries, this will be a couple of

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Speaker 1: months and we'll be able to get back to things.

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Speaker 1: So we've been talking about reopening in May, and we've

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Speaker 1: been talking about reopening in June. UM. You know, up

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Speaker 1: until a week ago, we were you know, potentially opening

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Speaker 1: in the middle of July. UM. But you know, it

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Speaker 1: quickly became apparent that that was not going to happen.

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Speaker 1: Kennant and Mulan moved their dates, and a number of

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Speaker 1: other films moved with them, and now we're back to

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Speaker 1: maybe reopening at the end of July. Uh, but probably

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Speaker 1: not if I you know, if I'm being honest, Yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: I would can concur with your assessment, which leads the

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Speaker 1: hard question, if you know, we're talking in September about

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Speaker 1: a business that's still not able to reopen, can you

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Speaker 1: hang in there? Um? I guess it perhaps depends on

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Speaker 1: what we're looking at when we look at September. If

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Speaker 1: we're not open in September, but it's definitely that we're

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Speaker 1: going to be opening, or are we start feeling really

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Speaker 1: good that we're gonna get open in October? Um, I

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Speaker 1: mean we're all, we're all, you know, we're all grasping

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Speaker 1: for threads, um, and so much that's not in our control.

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Speaker 1: So um. One of the major bunths is just that

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Speaker 1: there has not been a lot of relief for shuttered businesses.

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Speaker 1: The p p P program is great if it's helping

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Speaker 1: you keep staff on while your business is open, but

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Speaker 1: at least as originally constructed it. UM. You know, it

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Speaker 1: did nothing for businesses that had to stay closed. UM.

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Speaker 1: And we were pushed in the direction of the s

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Speaker 1: B a Economic Injury Disaster loan program, which has not

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Speaker 1: provided any significant funding that I heard of, certainly not

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Speaker 1: to any small businesses, certainly not US UM. And you know,

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Speaker 1: for all to talk about the FEDS Main Street program

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Speaker 1: on program, it really hasn't provided any funding or rolled

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Speaker 1: out at all yet. So UM. So you know, when

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Speaker 1: you talk about trying to get some assistance from you know,

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Speaker 1: various government programs to help tide you through some of

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Speaker 1: these typical periods, it hasn't happened yet. It doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: it won't happen, but it's hard to be hopeful. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And you know, and then you know, on the science front,

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Speaker 1: we're all waiting for can we get the numbers down

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Speaker 1: to people start taking it seriously? Obviously it's worked in

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Speaker 1: other countries. Why can't we do that here? Um? Is

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Speaker 1: the magic bullet going to come through, which is the

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Speaker 1: vaccine arrives sooner than we expected, or a treatment protocol

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Speaker 1: at least that makes this less deadly. M. I think

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Speaker 1: people would you know, run their risk of getting sick

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Speaker 1: if they didn't feel that they were going to die.

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Speaker 1: So we're all hoping for these kinds of things. Um

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Speaker 1: and you know, ideally not planning for the worst understood. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, do you is there a way, for instance,

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Speaker 1: in terms of cash reserves that you might be able

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Speaker 1: to rely on, or any other sort of lifeline you

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Speaker 1: think you'll be able to take advantage of if this

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Speaker 1: If this continues to persist in the state that it's in.

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Speaker 1: The only lifeline that we have as a company is

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Speaker 1: that we happen to own a lot of our dirt

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Speaker 1: where the theaters are located. UM. So we are taking

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Speaker 1: a look at what options there may be for selling

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Speaker 1: even in this market. Of course, it means you know,

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Speaker 1: not selling it a great price in many cases. Um.

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Speaker 1: And it means that in the long term, those theaters

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Speaker 1: may not be there as part of a reopening. Um.

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Speaker 1: They may not be redeveloped or repurposed right away. But

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Speaker 1: there's no guarantee that the new landlord is going to

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Speaker 1: have the same commitment to maintaining that operation as we do.

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Speaker 1: But it is one of the few reserves that we

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Speaker 1: as a company can look to. So just to clarify Greg,

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Speaker 1: do you see yourself potentially selling the whole business or

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Speaker 1: are we talking about individual theaters? No, No, it's not

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Speaker 1: about the whole business. Um. The issue is that we

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Speaker 1: own properties. In theory, we have equity in those properties.

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Speaker 1: If we can convert that equity into cash that we

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Speaker 1: can loan to ourselves to help get us through this process,

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Speaker 1: to get the business through the process, to drag the

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Speaker 1: other properties through this process, that's something we have to consider. So, um,

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Speaker 1: we're not selling all our properties or were certainly not obligated,

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Speaker 1: but we are maybe looking at what the potential is

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Speaker 1: for each individual property to determine is there a buyer,

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Speaker 1: is the price fair enough? What does it mean for

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Speaker 1: us if we don't have this property and then potentially

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Speaker 1: that location anymore? But how does it contribute to the

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Speaker 1: business as a whole surviving it. We're not selling the brand,

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Speaker 1: we're not selling all our locations, but um, we if

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Speaker 1: we have to. That is a source of liquidity that

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Speaker 1: helps get us thrill by selling one by selling to

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Speaker 1: And is there any particular property that you're shopping at

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Speaker 1: this point, you can't say there is one that is

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Speaker 1: listed publicly, um, but we are privately looking at some

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Speaker 1: of the others. I would say there are some that

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Speaker 1: we're not looking at selling. Um. We have obligations on

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Speaker 1: some of these properties with the cities that helped to

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Speaker 1: prove the properties that helped get them build. Um, and

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Speaker 1: we intend to fulfill those obligations. UM I believe at that. Okay.

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Speaker 1: So to be clear, though, are you guys actively exploring

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Speaker 1: sale at this point? Is there are you talking to

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Speaker 1: companies that could become owners? Uh? There's no market for

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Speaker 1: people buying movie theaters. Um. You just look at the

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Speaker 1: stock price of publicly traded exhibition companies and it's kind

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Speaker 1: of clear that there's really not a lot of interest

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Speaker 1: in owning buying into the sector. We're talking to people

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Speaker 1: who are potentially looking at these properties for redevelopment to

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Speaker 1: mixed use or some other some other business. Um. But

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Speaker 1: if you own the land, could you yourself go down

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Speaker 1: that road? Uh, turn these theaters into something else. It's

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Speaker 1: something we've looked at, but it's really not our expertise ultimately,

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Speaker 1: and um, even the process of redevelopment requires a degree

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Speaker 1: of liquidity, which is difficult to come up with right now.

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Speaker 1: M banks are not inclined to cash out of cash

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Speaker 1: out refinancing. Um. And they're some major changes in the

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Speaker 1: commercial real estate market. So, you know, as difficult as

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Speaker 1: it may be, you know, thinking about being the landlord

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Speaker 1: with a movie theater tenant, I'm not sure you want

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Speaker 1: to be a landlord with a retail shore tenant. Either. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's difficult to know how consumer tendencies

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Speaker 1: are going to change as we come out of this thing. Um.

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Speaker 1: We're all complaining about being locked at home and not

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Speaker 1: being able to get out, Um, some complaining more loudly

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Speaker 1: than others. Um, you know, and and talking about a

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Speaker 1: return to normal. But um, this may not be a

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Speaker 1: return to normal kind of situation. That's obviously saying a

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Speaker 1: lot coming from you. You know, your family has been

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Speaker 1: in this business for what now eighty years more than that, amazing,

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Speaker 1: and and so this is more than just a business.

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Speaker 1: This is this is a family legacy here. That's that's

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Speaker 1: got to have a tremendous weight. Is that weighing on

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Speaker 1: you as you figure what your options are? It has

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Speaker 1: to Yes, it does. Um. And again, look, I'm I

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Speaker 1: do believe that movie going will return, that people will

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Speaker 1: enjoy the experience that is it is different, inherently different

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Speaker 1: from watching a movie at home. UM, but you know,

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Speaker 1: there's still going to be some changes in numbers. UM.

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Speaker 1: So just like you know some people, you know, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: of course I go to the supermarket. I love going

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Speaker 1: to the market and touching the food and everything like

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Speaker 1: that and feeling you know. But during the pandemic, I

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Speaker 1: ordered food online and it was delivered to my house,

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Speaker 1: and you know what, that was really kind of convenient.

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Speaker 1: We don't know where consumers will go, you know, with

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Speaker 1: the things the changes that they've absorbed during this period, um.

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Speaker 1: You know, and that includes things like video on demand

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Speaker 1: and streaming, um, and other forms of at home entertainment. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's not the same as an experience as going to

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Speaker 1: the movies. So from that standpoint, I believe movie going returns,

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Speaker 1: but it may change and it may be different. But

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Speaker 1: you're also saying that it's possible we are entering, to

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Speaker 1: use your words, a new normal, the the movie going

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Speaker 1: habits of old may not return. That the experience that

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Speaker 1: you're describing that is different than watching at home. Are

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Speaker 1: you starting to question whether, you know, even if we

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Speaker 1: come back as soon as August, whether we will have

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Speaker 1: seen some sort of permanent change in movie going. I

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Speaker 1: think it's something we need to be uh looking at

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Speaker 1: and aware of. And it's not the first time it's happened.

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Speaker 1: It's not the first time it's happened from this company. UM.

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Speaker 1: My grandfather was operating six movie theaters in Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: in the late forties, and by the early if he

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Speaker 1: was operating one. UM TV came along and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: many neighborhood movie theaters closed down. UM. During that period,

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Speaker 1: movie going did return, UM, but it returned differently. UM.

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Speaker 1: Hollywood adjusted the types of films that were making, the

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Speaker 1: release patterns, uh you know, and a number of other things,

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Speaker 1: and ultimately we found a cozy relationship in fact, with

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Speaker 1: the the new form of in home entertainment. It provided

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Speaker 1: a revenue source. UM. But during that period of transition

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Speaker 1: it gets ugly. How does what you're dealing with now

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Speaker 1: stack up? Is it just as bad as this the

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Speaker 1: greatest challenge you could say that your family business has

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Speaker 1: has faced in its history. UM, Well, it sure feels

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Speaker 1: like the greatest challenge we faced UM in large measure

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Speaker 1: the speed in which it came upon us and the

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Speaker 1: complete nature of it. UM. You know, we were showing

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Speaker 1: movies on nine eleven, just because we felt that there

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Speaker 1: were people that needed to get out of the house.

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Speaker 1: We stayed open through the Rodney King riots and the earthquakes. Um,

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Speaker 1: we've never been closed, and now we've been closed for

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Speaker 1: four months, coming up on four months. It's just you know,

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Speaker 1: it's Um, it's big, no question about it. And I

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Speaker 1: think I'm curious. You know, you guys obviously occupy a

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Speaker 1: unique niche in the market with art house film. Uh

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Speaker 1: do you think there's something about art house film that

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Speaker 1: it makes it more or less vulnerable than what's going on?

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Speaker 1: It's a bigger chains. Um. No. I'd like to think

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Speaker 1: that the art house audience very much appreciates, um, the

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Speaker 1: unique nature of the movie going experience and UM, And

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Speaker 1: in many cases, a lot of the smaller distributors and

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Speaker 1: these smaller films are being squeezed out on some of

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Speaker 1: the streaming platforms as everybody builds their own platform and

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Speaker 1: owns their own content, all of a sudden, they're not

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Speaker 1: interested in acquiring, you know, other content. UM. So I'd

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Speaker 1: like to think we're well positioned. UM, and we just

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Speaker 1: tend to be survivors. I mean, uh, you know, just

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Speaker 1: in the same way that in other economic downturns, it

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Speaker 1: is these small businesses, the family businesses that survived and

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Speaker 1: the chains that go out. It is the vinyl record

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Speaker 1: store that survives when uh, you know, the big music

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Speaker 1: store goes out, saying with bookstores. So I think from

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Speaker 1: that standpoint, I'd like to think we're well positioned. Um,

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Speaker 1: but it may be that no, this is going to

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Speaker 1: be the only films that really makes sense in theatrical

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Speaker 1: are the blockbuster films, the big the Marvel pictures, and

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Speaker 1: that's where the audience is going to be for theatrical

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Speaker 1: going forward. And my audience has migrade to a place

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Speaker 1: where they can potentially find more obscure films. Um. I

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Speaker 1: don't know, understandable. But you know, when we talk about

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Speaker 1: art house, we can't ignore the fact that, as you

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Speaker 1: well know, what we've seen in recent years is that

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Speaker 1: the streaming services like Netflix have flooded the zone, putting

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Speaker 1: out lots of movies that are certainly I think, just

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Speaker 1: beginning to impact the exhibition window to the point where

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Speaker 1: you gotta wonder whether that window is gonna hold much longer.

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Speaker 1: So have you seen that as a whole other threat, Well,

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Speaker 1: it's it's potentially a threat, um, But some of it

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Speaker 1: depends on how those those services change their attitudes towards

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Speaker 1: the theatrical window. We have worked with Netflix, we played Roma,

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Speaker 1: we played Marriage Story, we played UM the scor Stacy film. UM.

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Speaker 1: So I think there's an opportunity to perhaps push them

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Speaker 1: in a direction of saying that, Yes, as much as

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Speaker 1: we want to debut these films on our platform, we

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Speaker 1: don't want to deny both the audience and opportunity to

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Speaker 1: see them in a theatrical setting. And our filmmakers who

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Speaker 1: have in fact made these films for a theatrical market, um,

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Speaker 1: and for that setting. So I'm going to take a

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Speaker 1: little bit of comfort and the success we've had with

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Speaker 1: some of those things and hope that other services will

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Speaker 1: consider that simultaneous prospects of allowing the films both theatrically

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Speaker 1: to play. It's going to change the window, there's no question, um.

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Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that theatrical can't have a place

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Speaker 1: in that environment for the people that prefer that experience.

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Speaker 1: And I think it goes back to what you were saying,

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Speaker 1: it's that experience. I I think, well, I think you

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Speaker 1: still maintain an optimistic hope that there's always going to

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Speaker 1: be room for the communal experience in the eats. Do

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Speaker 1: you feel that, you know, the physical plant, the infrastructure

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Speaker 1: that you bring to the table has to improve, has

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Speaker 1: to be upgraded, because that's always been a big trend

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Speaker 1: in recent years as theaters trying to give a value

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Speaker 1: add to audiences that have a lot to watch at

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Speaker 1: home too. Yeah. Now, look, the physical aspect of it

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Speaker 1: is important, whether that's reclining seats, whether that's dying in.

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Speaker 1: That's not where we're choosing to go, but as a company,

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Speaker 1: but you still do needs. I mean, you know, it

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Speaker 1: needs to be comfortable, it needs to be clean. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know the image of the art house theater as

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Speaker 1: the rundown place with the surly staff. I mean that's

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Speaker 1: not gonna yeah, that's not gonna work right. Well maybe

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Speaker 1: the surly staff, I don't know. You know, we should

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Speaker 1: also talk about the virtual cinema business that has sort

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Speaker 1: of blossomed in this pandemic moment. Uh, talk about what

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Speaker 1: you guys have done on that front. Well, as we

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Speaker 1: were shutting down, a couple of distributors wanted to help

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Speaker 1: and be also were caught in a situation where their

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Speaker 1: films were now shut out of theatrical and UM, you know,

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Speaker 1: we quickly, not we, but sort of as a consortium,

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Speaker 1: quickly cobbled together the idea of promoting premium tivod UM

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Speaker 1: under the label of Virtual Cinema, with the idea that

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Speaker 1: the movie theaters were going to promote these films to

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Speaker 1: their audience and there would be some sharing of revenue

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Speaker 1: that was collected by the by the platform providers to

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Speaker 1: help get theatrical Through this UM, we provide an important

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Speaker 1: role for smaller distributors who tend to not have the markets,

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Speaker 1: do not have the marketing budgets that the major studios have,

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Speaker 1: so they really do rely on their partners and exhibition

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Speaker 1: to help with promotion. So it seemed like a natural fit. UM.

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Speaker 1: So within within ten days of the theatrical shutdown, we

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Speaker 1: had launched we had we purposed our website, turned it

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Speaker 1: around so that we could promote films that were available

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Speaker 1: on premium v o D Transactionally, UM, it has not

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Speaker 1: replaced theatrical revenue, certainly not for us and importantly not

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Speaker 1: for our distributors either, UM, but it has allowed us

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Speaker 1: to stay in contact with our patrons during this period.

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Speaker 1: You know, in a discussion about film, which is of

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Speaker 1: course what's what we're about. UM. It's provided a revenue

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Speaker 1: steam for distributors. UM. We again not what they were

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Speaker 1: hoping for, but still something. UM. And maybe it points

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Speaker 1: the way towards a future. UM. Certainly, you know, in

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Speaker 1: a reopened environment, if there is no vaccine and there's

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Speaker 1: no treatment protocol, there will be a certain segment of

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Speaker 1: the audience that is not comfortable returning to movie theaters.

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Speaker 1: So is there an opportunity to have films available simultaneously

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Speaker 1: in theatrical and on video and demand, again with a

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Speaker 1: revenue share to the exhibitor for agreeing to, you know,

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Speaker 1: participate in that kind of experiment, so to speak. So

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Speaker 1: it sounds like you think, you know, even in the

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Speaker 1: best case scenario where you know, let's say you're able

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Speaker 1: to open your business again in a month or so,

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Speaker 1: do you think this virtual cinema model still has a

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Speaker 1: place at the table in that future. I do think

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Speaker 1: there's a place in the future for for virtual cinema. UM.

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Speaker 1: Whether it's a simultaneous thing because people are afraid, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a quick window shortly after theatrical ends, UM, I

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Speaker 1: can't tell. You the number of times you know, in

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Speaker 1: the past when we were open in a film, uh

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Speaker 1: ended it's engagement too soon and the people that are saying, oh,

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Speaker 1: I missed that one. How do I get to see

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Speaker 1: it to be able to say, here, it's on our way,

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Speaker 1: you know, click on this link and you can watch

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Speaker 1: it at home. Um. It's it's almost like the move

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Speaker 1: over house, um or the you know, the the hold

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Speaker 1: over run for a film that got pushed out of

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Speaker 1: theatrical too quickly. So, UM, yeah, I do think there's

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Speaker 1: gonna be some continuation of that. Um what shape exactly

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Speaker 1: it takes, as you know, to be determined, got it.

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Speaker 1: Obviously we we don't know how this this story is

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Speaker 1: going to play out. You you mentioned the possibility of

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Speaker 1: a sale. We should mention also that last year you

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Speaker 1: did put the business up for sale, only to withdraw that.

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Speaker 1: Would you rethink that at this point? I mean, could

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Speaker 1: you if you had to do over? I prefer not

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Speaker 1: to be a Monday morning. I mean, look, obviously it's

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Speaker 1: a very it was you know, we made what we

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Speaker 1: thought was the right decision at the time. It turned

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Speaker 1: out to be uh not so not such a great decision. Um.

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Speaker 1: But what are you gonna do? And you also were

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Speaker 1: looking at opening an eighth venue. Correct, we're finishing construction

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Speaker 1: on a new theater and U this town of the

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Speaker 1: neighborhood of New Hall, which is part of the city

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Speaker 1: of Santa Clarita. It's in North Los Angeles County, so

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Speaker 1: it's basically finished at this point, and we're just now

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Speaker 1: waiting for word about when we can open. Okay, in

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Speaker 1: the event though, where that and other theaters won't open again?

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Speaker 1: Are there, whether it's through your own business or through

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Speaker 1: a new owner, are there particular kinds of businesses that

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Speaker 1: theater architecture lend themselves to. I just don't know how

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Speaker 1: what what what? What else do theaters become? If not theaters? Well, yes,

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Speaker 1: I mean, uh speaking hypothetically, right, movie theaters have been

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Speaker 1: converted to retail stores. Um. You know, go to on

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Speaker 1: Sunset Boulevard in in Echo Park there's the Mohawk Bends,

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Speaker 1: which is a bar or a group hub. Um that's

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Speaker 1: in the uh you know, the basically the auditoriament all

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Speaker 1: the theater so um. You know, if you've grown up

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Speaker 1: and well in almost any town you can go around

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Speaker 1: and see that's an old movie theater. Now it's a

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Speaker 1: Now it's a gap. Now it's a gap exists. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know it's a bookstore. To this and to that,

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Speaker 1: it's a church. Um. So there's a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that movie theaters are repurposed into. But again, in many

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Speaker 1: cases it may be that they're just torn down. A

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Speaker 1: lot of our locations happen to being close to transit

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Speaker 1: and the future you know, transit orient development, mixed use

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Speaker 1: with you know, ground floor retail and residential above maybe

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Speaker 1: the kind of thing that you know is going to

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Speaker 1: be we're going to see more of. Um, we're only

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Speaker 1: just at the very beginning of what's going on with

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Speaker 1: our economy. Um, and the changes that the pandemic is

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Speaker 1: going to that will ripple through our economy because of

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Speaker 1: the pandemic. What is the future of office uh space?

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Speaker 1: You know, the list is endless. Yeah. Well, as you

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Speaker 1: look more broadly though, in a scenario where the pandemic

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Speaker 1: is with us many more months and we want to

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Speaker 1: admit and you look more broadly across the movie exhibition business,

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Speaker 1: how much do you think it could shrink? How could

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Speaker 1: it go away entirely? I mean, how do you see it? Well,

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Speaker 1: not to differ on our specific situation. But you know,

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Speaker 1: there is a conversation about large circuits that are going bankrupt. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's AMC has most prominently been featured, But

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Speaker 1: I don't think that there's others that might not shortly,

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Speaker 1: you know, be right in the line behind them, depending

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Speaker 1: on how much longer this takes. UM. In many cases,

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Speaker 1: that's just a a start to a reorganization that has

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Speaker 1: those same businesses start out more or less the same

395
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Speaker 1: number of locations, um, just with a new financial structure, um.

396
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Speaker 1: But a long term if the movie at footprint of

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Speaker 1: the movie business is gonna shrink, I don't know. You know,

398
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Speaker 1: if you're a mall owner and you've got you know,

399
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Speaker 1: what's your bigger problem, you know, making a new deal

400
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Speaker 1: with the movie theater tenant, who at least can reopen,

401
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,040
Speaker 1: albeit at less rent, or trying to find somebody to

402
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 1: replace the you know, the J. C. Penny which occupied

403
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Speaker 1: in many cases a lot more space. Um and and

404
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Speaker 1: as a business that may not be coming back. I'm

405
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Speaker 1: curious what did it look like for you before this

406
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 1: all hit. Were you in a good place, because I

407
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Speaker 1: know some of the previous years you took your lumps

408
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Speaker 1: right was terrific, although it certainly towards the end of

409
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Speaker 1: things went into a bit of a spin, especially in

410
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Speaker 1: the art house sector. Uh. But towards the tail end

411
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Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen we had some success, which of course

412
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Speaker 1: led to us to decide to to take the company

413
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Speaker 1: off the table and stay in business. Um. The Oscar

414
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Speaker 1: season was shorter this year, which hurts the box office. UM. Uh,

415
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Speaker 1: but you know, look, we had uh, you know, the

416
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Speaker 1: second highest grossing foreign language film of all time, perhaps

417
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Speaker 1: with Parasite winning the Best Picture for the Oscars. I mean,

418
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Speaker 1: that's a great thing for the art house business. Um.

419
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Speaker 1: And we were very hopeful. There were some films coming out,

420
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Speaker 1: films from Wes Anderson that we're on the release schedule,

421
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,959
Speaker 1: a new film from Armando and Nuerchy. Uh, you know,

422
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:39,199
Speaker 1: some other returning U directors with which which looked like,

423
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 1: you know, good high quality films. Um. It's it's turned into, well,

424
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,439
Speaker 1: obviously it's turned into what it's turned into. Um. The

425
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Speaker 1: fact that so many a number of films have at

426
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Speaker 1: least pushed back their release states, so they're still available.

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Speaker 1: We're still going to get Mulan in theaters. We're still

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00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: gonna get Black Widow in theaters. We're still getting a

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00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: quiet place to in theaters, so that's a positive. Yes,

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00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: there have been some films that jumped the gun and

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00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: just went straight to to V O D bypassing theatrical.

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Speaker 1: But I feel that if we can get back open,

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00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: we're going to see a lot of product in uh

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Speaker 1: and a lot of pent up demand for movie going.

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00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 1: And even if the economy is soft, movie going historically

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00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 1: has been a countercyclical business. Um. You know, people out

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00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: of work but and and not having a lot of money,

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00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: but they'll find a way to get to the movies

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00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 1: because it takes them out of their life. Um. We've

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00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 1: always functioned it that way. Um. Will there be a

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00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: pause at some point because of the delay in production,

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00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,159
Speaker 1: you know, that remains to be seen. But production is

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00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: ramping back up. Um, and certainly on the art house side,

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Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see what you know, creativity filmmakers

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00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: have put to use during this period two make movie

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00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: is even with the limited resources at their disposal. Um,

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00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 1: you know we're doing this remotely. There's almost no reason

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00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 1: why you can't shoot an actor in our own remotely

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00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, I think we'll see some interesting innovation there.

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00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: And look, I hope we're having this conversation again soon

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00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 1: and and things look better. I wish you the best

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Speaker 1: and hope that this plays out well for your business.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I appreciate that, and thanks for

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Speaker 1: taking time. Wear a mask. It makes a difference. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: this has been another episode of Strictly Business. Tune in

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00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: next week for another helping of scintillating conversation with media

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00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 1: movers and shakers, and please make sure you subscribe to

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00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 1: the podcast to hear future episodes. Also, leave a review

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00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: in Apple Podcast let us know how we're doing it.

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Speaker 1: Four