Britain has thousands of cinemas, hundreds of which are independent (Picture: Getty Images)
Will Columbine, an administrator for a film studio in London, knows a naff film when he sees one – and he’s pretty much seen them all.
Every month or so since 2012, his Crap Film Club meets at The Old Queen’s Head, a pub in Islington, to watch why-was-this-made sequels, shamefully un-funny comedies and rom-coms so cheesy the audience leaves the room a vegan.
And The Room, of course.
So when he says that the majority of films nominated for an Oscar this year aren’t crap enough for him to screen at his club, you can trust him.
‘The line-up is looking particularly strong this year – The Holdovers, American Fiction, The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall are all excellent – and I would certainly not want to tarnish any of them by association,’ Will, 45, tells Metro.co.uk.
‘Now, the Razzies on the other hand…’
The Crap Film Club is an independent movie group which screens – you guessed it – crap films (Picture: Crap Film Club/Facebook)
Will is one person who, out of the more than 1,000 movie theatres in the UK, runs one of the country’s 500 independent cinemas, movie groups and film festivals.
There’s the travelling Screen Machine cinema, or catching a movie on the ‘edge of the world’ at the coastal, cabaret-style West Side Cinema in Orkney. And eating popcorn inside a tent at London’s Nomad Cinema, of course.
To Will, these small and quirky cinemas are vital for moviegoers unable to travel to the big chains or who are keener to watch niche films – or, in Will’s case, absolutely awful films.
But the UK cinema industry isn’t what it used to be. Fewer people are buying movie tickets, and the numbers haven’t quite bounced back from the pandemic.
The trend is joined by fewer people watching the Oscars each year. Just 9,800,000 people watched the Academy Awards in 2021, barely scraping the tens of millions seen just 10 years before.
Everyone has a theory about the decline of the Academy Awards. It’s too ‘woke’, it’s way too white, it shuns indie films and loves superhero flicks a bit too much. It’s snubbed acclaimed films and directors too many times to count.
Will has a few ideas why, too. ‘To be honest, it’s all a bit self-congratulatory. A big industry backslap,’ he says. ‘Also, as we’ve seen with the exclusion of Barbie from some of the major categories, the voting board clearly needs a shake-up.’
The entrance sign to the Star and Shadow Cinema in Newcastle, Tyneside, one of Britain’s hundreds of independent movie businesses (Picture: Shutterstock/Electric Egg)
Fans felt that Barbie’s Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were snubbed by the Oscars (Picture: AP)
Paul Whitestone, who owns the Bournemouth Colosseum which claims to be Britain’s smallest cinema, agrees.
The 96th Academy Awards will air this Sunday. But to Paul, the Oscars being so late in the season means people feel they’ve already seen it, what with the raft of other award ceremonies before it.
‘People get tired of these back-slapping events where they’re all celebrating each other’s employment,’ the property manager, who works part-time in London, says. ‘By the time it’s the Oscars, everyone’s heard about all the films and we’ve already seen everybody getting their awards. We already know who’s going to win.’
Paul helps run a microcinema in an old shoe shop that has just 25 seats for cinephiles and newbies alike to watch grainy classics, foreign flicks and big blockbusters while curled under blankets. So, a slightly different vibe to a Vue or Odeon, he jokes.
Moviegoing isn’t about what film has what awards. It’s more a great excuse to spend some time with your friends and be immersed in a good story for an hour or two, Paul says.
‘We hardly ever see a single person come in and watch a film. It’s almost an activity for two people or a group, I’ve only realised that since we’ve been running a cinema,’ he says.
No wonder. The Colosseum filled what Paul felt was a ‘void’ for people unable to hop on a bus to the town centre to catch ‘one of the two major films each year’ in a pricey chain cinema.
The Bournemouth Colleseum says it is Britain’s smallest cinema (Picture: Bournemouth Colleseum/Facebook)
Independent cinema owners had mixed feelings about the Academy Awards (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
However, much like a Michael Bay film, the annual admission rates for British cinemas have been a high-octane roller coaster, regardless of their size. From the historic post-war high of 1,640,000,000,000 in 1946 to the pandemic lows of just 44,000,000, according to the UK Cinema Association.
Yet cinemagoing hasn’t quite recovered from the pandemic – 2022 saw the rate crawl up to 117,300,000. Tiny movie theatres were especially hard-hit – almost half said last year they were operating at a loss, according to a survey by the Independent Cinema Office (ICO).
Many only made it out on the other side thanks to the government’s furlough scheme, arts grants, merciful landlords and donations from loyal members.
Getting a membership at a local independent cinema and becoming a patron are just two ways suggested by the owners Metro.co.uk spoke with to support businesses like theirs. As are simply, well, going there or hiring the space out.
‘Small cinemas can do things big cinemas can’t,’ Paul adds. Think ‘deep, hidden away films’, ‘supper club nights’ and ‘films on request’.
Mike Atterby, who owns the tiny Whirled Cinema in the railway arches under Loughborough Junction, south London, appreciates more than anyone an obscure film. Yet he sees the Oscars as good for a small business like his.
Whirled Cinema is the kind of membership-only, advertisement-free house that the regulars know about from other regulars who know it from different regulars who know you have to use your Oyster card to get inside it.
Whirled Cinema’s programmers keep an eye out on the ‘traction’ a film is getting, whether a Hollywood blockbuster or otherwise. The Oscars play a big part in making a film a must-see, Mike, 57, says.
The Whirled Cinema’s organiser says its programme is about making the movies as accessible as possible for locals (Picture: Whirled Cinema/Facebook)
‘The Oscars are good for us because we don’t show films necessarily on their release,’ Mike, who lives in the south London neighbourhood of Dulwich, says. ‘A lot of things we show are based on the traction that we want to jump on – people don’t know if a movie will get Oscar-nominated overnight.
‘Hollywood stuff gets all the advertising. The buses going by with posters make you feel you have to go – a fear of missing out that you don’t get with independent films. We try to pick up on that.’
Whirled Cinema is all about making the movies as ‘accessible’ as possible. Even after the business was battered by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis following it, it’s kept its doors open.
Membership – from less than £10 a month, or £1 a screening – doesn’t exactly bring in the big bucks, Mike admits.
Instead, his biggest joy as a cinema owner is how treasured the site has become for the local community.
‘We haven’t got hundreds of millions of subscribers, so we talk to them and actually meet their needs,’ Mike adds. ‘We’re more in touch with them.’
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