Academy to mandate theatrical expansions for best picture contenders starting in 2024
In a move that will require distributors to plan wider and longer theatrical releases, the Academy has issued new rules starting next season that will ensure companies expand a best picture contender’s theatrical footprint no later than 45 days after the initial qualifying release.
In a bid to support theatre-going, new requirements by the board starting with the 97th Academy Awards honouring films released in 2024 mean that once a film has received its initial one-week theatrical release in one of six qualifying US markets, it must meet certain additional theatrical standards for best picture eligibility:
Expanded theatrical run of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top 50 US markets, no later than 45 days after the initial release in 2024;
For late-in-the-year films with expansions after January 10, 2025, distributors must submit release plans to the Academy for verification;
Release plans for late-in-the-year films must include a planned expanded theatrical run, as described above, to be completed no later than January 24, 2025;
Non-US territory releases can count towards two of the 10 markets; and
Qualifying non-US markets include the top 15 international theatrical markets plus the home territory for the film.
The Academy will review the new requirements, as it does all eligibility rules, on an ongoing basis. Eligibility for achievements in the various discipline categories will not be impacted by the new requirements.
The new measures follow Academy conversations with distributors of all sizes and are in synch with the Academy’s belief that a vibrant theatrical sector is crucial to the well-being of the industry.
While the new requirements will extend theatrical runs by at least seven days they do not mandate distributors to keep films in theatres for 45 days; rather the companies must put their films in 10 markets within 45 days of release and could in theory open a film in 10 or more markets straight away.
The expansion requirement may be challenging to smaller distributors, which is why the Academy has announced the measures this week to give distributors time to plan 2024 releases. There are no restrictions on films subsequently getting a re-release more than 45 days after the initial launch date. Distributors often do this after the Oscar nominations are announced.
Distributors of late-year releases would have less than 45 days in which to expand their films’ theatrical footprints given the January 24 2025 cut-off.
While the rule change is not about the length of a theatrical run, it also remains to be seen how it will impact the streamers’ theatrical engagement.
For this season at least, Amazon Studios has shown it is committed to a considerable exclusive theatrical release as it did with Air, which got a 30-day exclusive theatrical run and played on more than 3,500 screens before it arrived on Prime Video.
Screen understands Apple is planning 45-day exclusive runs on its upcoming Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott epics Killers Of The Flower Moon (with Paramount) and Napoleon (with Sony).
Netflix does not always give a film a long theatrical run and last year the streamer put Rian Johnson’s whodunnit Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in theatres for one week before the platform debut. Executive chairman Reed Hastings explained that while he was aware the company was leaving money on the table by foregoing a longer theatrical release, it was promotional tactic in service to Netflix subscribers and Netflix had no plans to build a theatrical business.
What remained unclear at time of writing was how smaller distributors that lack spending power – particularly those handling international feature film contenders whose producers or national film bodies cannot commit to a substantial release – will afford to expand their initial theatrical footprint.
It was also unclear which source will define the top 15 international theatrical markets. Screen understands the Academy will adapt as market ranking fluctuates.
“As we do every year, we have been reviewing and assessing our theatrical eligibility requirements for the Oscars,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang. “In support of our mission to celebrate and honor the arts and sciences of moviemaking, it is our hope that this expanded theatrical footprint will increase the visibility of films worldwide and encourage audiences to experience our artform in a theatrical setting. Based on many conversations with industry partners, we feel that this evolution benefits film artists and movie lovers alike.”
CineEurope 2023, Barcelona: 20 June 2023 – The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the trade association representing cinema operators and their national associations across 39 European territories, has today published its Annual Report on key cinema trends in the region in 2022/23.
Cinionic, the global leader in laser cinema technology, has partnered with the Film Expo Group to become the Official Cinema Projection Provider of CineEurope for the fifth year in a row. All projection equipment in the CCIB Auditorium will be supplied by Cinionic, powering the studio product presentations and screenings with Laser Projection by Cinionic.
“We are excited about the opportunity to yet again partner with a technology giant like Cinionic at CineEurope. We are confident this continued partnership will help the development of cinematic technologies expand throughout the region,” said Andrew Sunshine, President of The Film Expo Group.
Welcoming today’s announcement, UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte-Abbott said: “We are hugely grateful for this latest show of support for CineEurope by Cinionic. As one of Europe’s leading cinema technology suppliers, we look forward to continuing to work closely with Cinionic colleagues on the show and more broadly.”
Cinionic, a Barco company, has pioneered numerous industry firsts ever since the early days of digital cinema, cementing its leadership in technology innovation. Today, Cinionic leads the global transition to laser with an award-winning portfolio of solutions and services designed to support cinemas as they prepare for the next generation of moviegoing. Over 35,000 screens around the world are now powered by Laser Projection by Cinionic.
Recognizing a paradigm shift in the marketplace, Cinionic has launched a new way to approach cinema technology, leading to partnerships with top global exhibitors to transform moviegoing in this next era. The introduction of new business models now enables exhibitors to embrace top entertainment trends and deliver the future of cinema today.
“Cinionic is proud to continue our role as the Official Cinema Projection Provider for CineEurope,” said Wim Buyens, CEO of Cinionic. “We are committed to supporting the global exhibition industry and enabling a bright future for cinema. With laser projection, we are delivering a greener way to showcase and enjoy movies during CineEurope and year-round through our theater partners across the world.”
About CineEurope CineEurope 2023 will take place 19-22 June at the Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona (CCIB) in Barcelona, Spain. CineEurope is the longest-running and most successful European convention and trade show for major, regional, and independent cinema professionals. CineEurope will feature exclusive screenings and product presentations of upcoming films, sponsored networking events, timely and informative seminars, and the CineEurope Trade Show. CineEurope is the Official Convention of the Union Internationale des Cinémas/International Union of Cinemas (UNIC).
About UNIC The Union Internationale des Cinémas/International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) represents the interests of cinema trade associations and cinema operators covering 39 countries in Europe and in neighboring regions.
About Film Expo Group The Film Expo Group is the premier organizer of events in the motion picture industry. The Film Expo Group produces CineEurope, held in Barcelona; ShowEast, held in Miami; and CineAsia, held in Bangkok. Additional information on CineEurope can be found at www.cineeurope.net.
About Cinionic Cinionic, a Barco company, was founded in 2018 with a commitment to creating a new visual standard and moving the cinema industry forward. Cinionic’s future-ready enhanced services and technology solutions provide compelling cinema experiences. The company’s world-class technology portfolio includes award-winning laser projectors, HDR, integrated media servers, and premium cinema experiences, among other innovations. With more than 100,000 projectors installed globally, Cinionic is trusted by more than 200 exhibitors to help capture audiences at multiple touchpoints in their cinema journey and keep them coming back for more. Cinionic has offices in Belgium, United States, Mexico, Australia, and Hong Kong. Visit www.cinionic.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube for more information.
Special thanks to The Walt Disney Company for choosing PLF Energia Screen for the premiere. Our huge theatre lobby has been transformed into Pandora.
Guests were first treated to WOW experiences in the huge lobby and then in PLF Energia Screen with a special 3D screening, dual projection on Christie Digital Systems 4K digital projectors both with laser light source by CINEMECCANICA SPA, lighting up our 30 meters wide screen, with Dolby Atmos™ immersive sound on largest configuration of Meyer Sound audio system.
Breathtaking Cinema experience on the Big Screen, the way it was meant to be seen.
Our kudos to James Cameron to his amazing 5 years production work which can now be finally screened to audiences worldwide. It is an honor for us to offer to our patrons to seat together, to dream together with their eyes wide opened to the big screen, to let them journey back to Pandora together. Unmissable Unique experience to be remembered for decades to come. 💙 More photos and video on our @arcadiacinema IG page.
CICAE calls for support after Creative Europe – MEDIA cuts funding for the only international training for arthouse cinemas
– The association claims their course for young cinema professionals will not be able to be continued without the main funder
The International Arthouse Cinema Association CICAE is calling for support after Creative Europe – MEDIA cut funding for the only international training for arthouse cinemas. In 2004, the association established an international training course for young cinema professionals from Europe and many other countries to strengthen and build their skills, develop new ideas and create new business models for the cinema of the future in an ever-changing media world. For the period 2023-2025, the MEDIA programme of the European Union has withdrawn its support for this initiative.
According to the association, “Without the main funder, the training course will not be able to be continued. And this at a time when cinema urgently needs new impulses for the future after three years of the pandemic and rising energy costs.”
CICAE has issued a call for action, which you can read below:
“The business model of cinemas is evolving, as is the behaviour of its audience. Events, programme diversity and new marketing strategies are becoming just as important as investments in digital and ecological modernisation.
“All of this is embodied in the Arthouse Cinema Training, which has trained and further educated almost 1,000 cinema operators and film professionals over the years so that they can successfully establish the cinema as a permanent place of encounter in the neighbourhood in a rapidly changing society,” the association adds in their press release.
“Professionalisation, innovation and networking are the keys to the necessary change in our industry. Through the Arthouse Cinema Training, a network of alumni has been created to foster the ideas of the European Union and the MEDIA network in their everyday work, such as increasing audiences’ interest in and knowledge of European films and audiovisual work, and promoting competitiveness, scalability, cooperation, innovation and sustainability in the European audiovisual sector.
“The training programme remains the only international training scheme that is specifically, explicitly and individually tailored to the needs of the independent exhibition industry. Unlike other market participants, such as creatives and producers, there are neither targeted national training programmes nor many opportunities for international meetings for the arthouse exhibition industry.
“With the discontinuation of EU funding, there is a serious risk of losing a painstakingly built network and support structures developed over many years, which strengthened the role of arthouse cinemas, and which contributed to the dissemination and visibility of the diversity of European filmmaking.
“In her State of the Union address in September, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, declared 2023 to be the ‘European Year of Competences’. These are exactly the competences we need for European cinema because the shortage of skilled workers is also affecting movie theatres.
“We need a new generation of courageous cinema operators who also trust in the power of cinema and will stand up for film and art diversity, and thus also for democratic values in Europe.
“We need the Arthouse Cinema Training to continue having exhibitors doing the essential work of showcasing and creating visibility for a rich, beautiful and daring European cinema.”
There’s a funny thing on the internet that lets people in public service jobs know how to deal with those who are disabled – those poor disabled people who have no ability to use Braille or sign language in this case!
“Sighted people tend to be very proud and will not ask directly for assistance. Be gentle, yet firm.”
“Calmly alert the sighted person to his or her surroundings by speaking slowly, in a normal tone of voice. There is no need to raise your voice when addressing a sighted person.”
OK; jokes aside. We are in a service business, and we get a lot of practice dealing with people who can walk strait to the proper line without assistance, but we don’t get a lot of practice dealing with people who need different kinds of assistance.
Does that blind person get a benefit from using Closed Caption equipment? Uhm…probably not. Audio Description equipment? Yes! Probably, yes. Should you ask? Good idea.
There are a couple good reasons to ask. One, it helps with the first basic communication point: everyone gets to know that they are being paid attention to. Two, people jump to the wrong conclusion sometimes. I may think that you are looking at your ticket to find the auditorium number, but you are looking to see if you have the right date.
When someone needs to use the Accessibility Equipment, they may think that
you are an expert and that
the equipment has been tested recently and that
the batteries are fully charged and that
the projectionist has made the playlist perfectly, including the captions and narration tracks and that
the accessibility hardware in the projection booth is turned on and tested
And, of course you are an expert…or want to be…but no matter how hard you study the equipment you don’t seem to get enough practice. And you are never around on SlowTuesday when the practice sessions are.
<Work in Progress – tell us your stories until we get this done…>
Tips for Working with People (clients and workmates) with Specific Needs
Follow the tips below when working with people with specific needs:
Use common sense. Remember a client or workmate is a person first, the specific need comes second.
Avoid being patronizing. Show the person the same courtesy and respect you expect to receive from others.
Be considerate and patient. Try to anticipate what the person’s needs might be, without being too presumptive or obsequious. Offer assistance if needed without forcing yourself on them.
Be patient if he or she needs more time to communicate or accomplish a task.
Communicate with the person. Some people with specific needs may have an assistant or companion with them. Look at and speak directly to the person, rather than the assistant.
Make certain that your posted signs help the person with specific needs to find the most accessible way to get to the room where they can get the service they require.
Working with People with Limited Mobility
When working with people with mobility issues:
Do not push or touch a person’s wheelchair without his or her consent. People using adaptive equipment often consider the equipment as part of their personal space.
Ask before helping. Grabbing a person’s elbow may throw the person off balance. A person with mobility impairments might lean on a door while opening it. Quickly opening the door may cause the person to fall.
Secure mats, rugs, and cords to the floor or move them out of the way. This will help prevent tripping.
Keep floors dry.
Keep ramps and wheelchair accessible doors unlocked and free of clutter.
Working with People with Speech or Hearing Impairments
When working with people with speech difficulties or who are deaf or hard of hearing:
Allow a person who cannot speak to write his or her request. Read the statement or request out loud.
Follow the person’s cues. This will help to determine whether speaking, gestures, or writing is the most effective method of communication.
If speaking, speak calmly, slowly, and directly to the person. Do not shout. Your facial expressions, gestures, and body movements help in understanding. Face the person at all times.
Rephrase, rather than repeat, sentences that the person does not understand.
Working with People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired
When working with people with speech difficulties or who are blind or partially sighted:
Identify yourself as a cinema employee. Do this as soon as you come in contact with the patron. Offer your arm, rather than taking the person’s arm when assisting. Help the person avoid obstacles in the path of travel by being specific when giving verbal directions.
If the person has a service animal, walk on the opposite side of the person, away from the service animal . Do not pet or interact with the service animal without the owner’s permission.
Describe what you are doing as you are doing it. If walking away from a person who is blind or partially sighted, let him or her know. This prevents the situation where they continue talking to no one.
Before the first SMTPE D-Cinema standards hit publication – back in 2008 – Post Production people began talking about workflows that would start with the DCinema Package as the mezzanine format then break those into anything else that someone needed for distribution on their channel.
That discussion worked its way independently of SMPTE for a while, then started the process that eventually turned into the ST 2067 – Interoperable Master Format (IMF), which today has its own website that makes these tools available for anyone to dig in and get it right.
It includes not only a suite of documents, but the normative references to those documents.
Modern logic says that since these documents are required to correctly implement these ideas and standards, then interface with other group’s equipment and implementations, they need to be available to the very people who can’t afford to get them all. SMPTE experimented with dozens of documents during the Covid times, and this implementation of the IMF documents is an advancement of that concept.
Movies at the cinema, a cultural phenomena that involves a blend of technology and groups of people, is taking one more step into Inclusiveness. The imperfect solutions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Blind and Partially Sighted are more and more part of every cinema facility – either special glasses that present words in mid-air or equipment that places words on at the end of bendable post, and earphones that transmit either a special enhanced (mono) dialog track or a different mono track that includes a narrator who describes the action. [At right: One of two brands of Closed Caption reading devices.]
Work is now nearing completion on a required new set of technologies that will help include a new group of people into the rich cultural experiences of movie-going. The tools being added are for those who use sign language to communicate. As has been common for the inclusion path, compliance with government requirements are the driving force. This time the requirement comes from Brazil, via a “Normative Instruction” that by 2018 (the time schedule has since been delayed) every commercial movie theater in Brazil must be equipped with assistive technology that guarantees the services of subtitling, descriptive subtitling, audio description and Libras.
Libras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinaisis) is the acronym for the Brazilian version of sign language for their deaf community. Libras is an official language of Brazil, used by a segment of the population estimated at 5%. The various technology tools to fulfil the sign language requirements are part of the evolving accessibility landscape. In this case, as often has happened, an entrepreneur who devised a cell phone app was first to market – by the time that the rules were formalized, cell phones belonging to the individual were not allowed to be part of the solution.
The option of using cell phones seems like a logical choice at first glance, but there are several problems with their use in a dark cinema theatre. They have never been found acceptable for other in-theatre uses, and this use case is no exception. The light that they emit is not designed to be restricted to just that one audience member (the closed caption device above does restrict the viewing angle and stray light), so it isn’t just a bother for the people in the immediate vicinity – phone light actually decreases perceived screen contrast for anyone getting a dose in their field of vision. Cell phones also don’t handle the script securely, which is a requirement of the studios which are obligated to protect the copyrights of the artists whose work they are distributing. And, of course, phones have a camera pointing at the screen – a huge problem for piracy concerns.
The fact is, there are problems with each of the various accessibility equipment offerings.
Accessibility equipment users generally don’t give 5 Stars for the choices they’ve been given, for many and varied reasons. Some of the technology – such as the device above which fits into the seat cup holder – requires the user to constantly re-focus, back-and-forth from the distant screen to the close foreground words illuminated in the special box mounted on a bendable stem. Another choice – somewhat better – is a pair of specialized glasses that present the words seemingly in mid-air with a choice of distance. While these are easier on the eyes if one holds their head in a single position, the words move around as one moves their head. Laughter causes the words to bounce. Words go sideways and in front of the action if you place your head on your neighbor’s shoulder.
[This brief review is part of a litany of credible issues, best to be reviewed in another article. It isn’t only a one-sided issue either – exhibitors point out that the equipment is expensive to buy, losses are often disproportionate to their use, and manufacturers point out that the amount of income derived doesn’t support continuous development of new ideas.)]
These (and other) technology solutions are often considered to be attempts to avoid the most simple alternative – putting the words on the screen in what is called “Open Caption”. OC is the absolute favorite of the accessibility audience. Secure, pristine, on the same focal plane, and importantly, all audience members are treated the same – no need to stand in line then be dragging around special equipment while your peers are chatting up somewhere else. But since words on screen haven’t been widely used since shortly after ‘talkies’ became common, the general audience aren’t used to them and many fear they would vehemently object. Attempts to schedule special open screening times haven’t worked in the past for various reasons.
And while open caption might be the first choice for many, it isn’t necessarily the best choice for a child, for example. Imagine the child who has been trained in sign language longer than s/he has been learning to read, who certainly can’t read as fast as those words speeding by in the new Incredibles movie. But signing? …probably better.
Sign language has been used for years on stage, or alongside public servants during announcements, or on the TV or computer screen. So in the cinema it is the next logical step. And just in time, as the studios and manufacturing technology teams are able to jump on the project when many new enabling components are available and tested and able to be integrated into new solutions.
These include recently designed and documented synchronization tools that have gone through the SMTPE and ISO processes, which work well with the newly refined SMPTE compliant DCP (now shipping!, nearly worldwide – yet another story to be written.) These help make the security and packaging concerns of a new datastream more easily addressable within the existing standardized workflows. The question started as ‘how to get a new video stream into the package?’ After much discussion, the choice was made to include that stream as a portion of the audio stream.
There is history in using some of the 8 AES pairs for non-audio purposes (motion seat data, for example). And there are several good reasons for using an available, heretofore unused channel of a partly filled audio pair. Although the enforcement date has been moved back by the Brazilian Normalization group, the technology has progressed such that the main facilitator of movies for the studios, Deluxe, has announced their capability of handling this solution. The ISDCF has a Technical Document in development and under consideration which should help others, and smooth introduction worldwide if that should happen. [See: ISDCF Document 13 – Sign Language Video Encoding for Digital Cinema (a document under development) on the ISDCF Technical Documents web page.]
One major question remains. Where is the picture derived from? The choices are:
to have a person do the signing, or
to use the cute emoticon-style of a computer-derived avatar.
Choice one requires a person to record the signs as part of the post-production process, just as sub-titling or dubbing is done in a language that is different from the original. Of course, translating the final script of the edited movie can only be done at the very last stage of post, and like dubbing requires an actor with a particular set of skills who has to do the work, which then still has to be edited to perfection and approved and QC’d – all before the movie is released.
An avatar still requires that translation. But the tool picks words from the translation, matches them to a dictionary of sign avatars, and presents them on the screen that is placed in front of the user. If there is no avatar for that word or concept, then the word is spelled out, which is what is the common practice in live situations.
There has been a lot of debate within the community about whether avatars can transmit the required nuance. After presentations from stakeholders, the adjudicating party in Brazil reached the consensus that avatars are OK to use, though videos of actors doing the signing being preferred.
The degree of nuance in signing is very well explained by the artist Christine Sun Kim in the following TED talk. She uses interesting allegories with music and other art to get her points across. In addition to explaining, she also shows how associated but slightly different ideas get conveyed using the entire body of the signer.
Christine Sun Kim at her TED talk about The Enchanting Music of Sign Language
Nuance is difficult enough to transmit well in written language. Most of us don’t have experience with avatars, except perhaps if we consider our interchanges with Siri and Alexa – there we notice that avatar-style tools only transmit a limited set of tone/emphasis/inflection nuance, if any at all. Avatar based signing is a new art that needs to express a lot of detail.
The realities of post production budgets and movie release times and other delivery issues get involved in this issue and the choices available. The situation with the most obstacles is getting all the final ingredients prepared for a day and date deadline. Fortunately, some of these packages can be sent after the main package and joined at the cinema, but either way the potential points of failure increase.
In addition to issues of time, issues of budget come into play. Documentary or small movies made, often made with a country’s film commission funds are often quite limited. Independants with small budgets may run out of credit cards without being able to pay for the talent required to have human signing. Avatars may be the only reasonable choice versus nothing.
At CinemaCon we saw the first of the two technologies presented by two different companies.
Riole® is a Brazilian company which developed a device that passes video from the DCP to a specialized color display that plays the video of the signing actor, as well as simultaneously presenting printed words. It uses SMPTE standard sync and security protocols and an IR emitter. Their cinema line also includes an audio description receiver/headphone system.
Dolby Labs also showed a system that is ready for production, which uses the avatar method. What we see on the picture at the right is a specially designed/inhibited ‘phone’ that the cinema chain can purchase locally. A media player gets input from the closed caption feed from the DCP, then matches that to a library of avatars. The signal is then broadcast via wifi to the ‘phones’. Dolby has refreshed their line of assistive technology equipment, and this will fit into that groups offerings.
Both companies state that they are working on future products/enhancements that will include the other technology, Riole working on avatars, Dolby working on videos.
There has been conjecture in the past as to whether other countries might follow with similar signing requirements. At this point that remains as conjecture. Nothing but rumors have been noted.
There are approximately 300 different sign languages in use around the world, including International Sign which is used at international gatherings. There are a lot of kids who can’t read subtitles, open or closed. Would they (and we) be better off seeing movies with their friends or waiting until the streaming release at home?
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UNICS-2023-ANNUAL-REPORT-PUBLISHED-AT-CINEEUROPE-20-June-2023.pdf
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Unmissable Unique experience to be remembered for decades to come. 💙 More photos and video on our @arcadiacinema IG page.
Riole® is a Brazilian company which developed a device that passes video from the DCP to a specialized color display that plays the video of the signing actor, as well as simultaneously presenting printed words. It uses SMPTE standard sync and security protocols and an IR emitter. Their cinema line also includes an audio description receiver/headphone system.
