Over the weekend of June 24, Independence Day: Resurgence opened on two screens at Entertainment Cinemas on Miracle Mile and one at the Nugget Theater in downtown Hanover. That same weekend, both theaters began screening the Free State of Jones.
The simultaneous arrival of those films at the two Upper Valley theaters would not have been possible a few months ago.
Before the May 27 release of X-Men: Apocalypse, 20th Century Fox would have allowed just one of the two theaters to debut one of its films.
The change in industry practice effectively gives both theaters a crack at blockbuster films, which could be a boon for the movie houses in an era of increased competition for eyeballs.
“You would play one great film (and) two turkeys,” said Bill Pence, who has booked movies for the Nugget Theater for three decades.
Timed to coincide with the opening of X-Men, 20th Century Fox sent theaters nationwide a notice effectively opening the door for those serving the same markets to screen the same films at the same time, said Pence.
The company would “no longer play … umpire” for theaters seeking to screen their movies, Pence said.
Soon after receiving the notice from 20th Century Fox, Pence said, he received similar notices from Universal Pictures and Lions Gate Entertainment.
While the previous system was fairly simple, now it’s even simpler. All it takes is a call to the film company.
“No problem,” Pence said.
Such a notice has not yet arrived from Warner Bros. Entertainment or The Walt Disney Co., but Pence said he believes it is only a matter of time before the change is industry-wide.
The clearance system, which required theaters with a shared market to receive permission from film production companies to screen movies, was “actually a little old-fashioned,” Pence said.
Now, as viewers have more and more options for how they view films after the first release, moving away from the clearance system simply makes sense, Pence said.
For movie theaters, the competition is no longer from each other; instead it is from the myriad of other ways of accessing content.
Offering a film in the theater during its opening weekend has become more and more important.
“(When) people want to see a movie there’s a real urgency to see it,” Pence said.
The change may mean films have shorter runs in the Upper Valley than they previously had, said Sydney Stowe, manager of the Hopkins Center’s film program.
As a result, viewers may have trouble catching a film they want to see, she said.
“At the Hop, hopefully we can take care of anyone who missed it,” she said.
It’s possible that the change could squeeze out some smaller films, but Pence predicted that the films that won’t be shown will be those that inspire less interest from viewers and are of lower quality.
“I would think, obviously, both the Nugget and Entertainment Cinemas would want to play films of quality that are enormously popular,” Pence said.
Quality, of course, is a subjective term. For example, Independence Day: Resurgence received a positive rating from just 30 percent of critics and 37 percent of viewers on the website Rotten Tomatoes.
Pence noted that because the Nugget is operated by the nonprofit Hanover Improvement Society, his film choices are not entirely driven by profit.
With the same films playing in both Hanover and Lebanon, it seems likely that moviegoers might have fewer options for first-run films.
For example, on Friday, May 6, prior to the elimination of the clearance system, Upper Valley moviegoers had 10 different films to choose from between the two theaters. When Independence Day: Resurgence and Free State of Jones opened at both theaters last month, moviegoers had just eight.
Voice messages left for Bill Hanney, president of Entertainment Management Corp., this week were not returned.
Both theaters are set to open The Secret Life of Pets today.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
