‘Crickets since the strike’: How the Hollywood strike is impacting Canadian theatres

With a Hollywood strike threatening a slowdown of major film releases, theatres are – once again – looking at alternative programming to keep their businesses going.

At the height of the pandemic, one independent movie theatre in Oakville, Ont., expanded its business model to include a space for people to rent out and produce feature films.

“We put a big investment in that during the pandemic to keep our people working. We opened up a film studio basically … and started renting the theater out for film sets, and base camps and such for the feature film and television industry,” Jeff Knoll, CEO and Executive Producer of Film.ca Cinemas Inc., told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday. “And that’s been going great until the writers strike and now it’s basically crickets since the actors went on strike.”

In July, about 160,000 actors and other media professionals who are part of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the picket line where more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since early May in response to working conditions and the threat AI poses to the industry.

This is the first time in over six decades that Hollywood actors and writers are striking simultaneously, and its impact is already affecting the industry.

During the strike, SAG-AFTRA actors are banned from promoting already-produced films, which affected the July 12 release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One as star Tom Cruise had limited traditional promotional appearances, leaving the launch to feel “a little flat,” according to the Oakville producer.

“The attraction isn’t the film itself, it’s the star, and without the star being out there really promoting the film, that hurts the film,” said Knoll, who was wearing a pink shirt to celebrate the successful launch of the Barbie movie over the weekend.

Knoll said he thinks independent movie theatres will feel the strike’s impact before the end of the year as the strike is expected to last months. Actors can’t audition for new roles or perform on-camera, halting the production of new films.

“One of our biggest seasons, of course, is Christmas, and that’s where we expect to start seeing some real impacts with reductions in releases and delays,” said Knoll, who shared that he’s heard a couple of smaller films being delayed already.

“When we start hearing from the studios that the big tentpole picture has been delayed, that’s when it’s really going to hurt.”

While Cineplex announced its June box office revenue was down two per cent compared to 2019, Knoll said that’s obviously not the case for independent movie theatres, especially as most have to wait for months before getting access to new films, missing the launch excitement.

“The window from theatrical to digital streaming is so short that by the time some of those films hit the independent theatres, they don’t have the same appeal or buzz that they would in a first-run market where people are getting the watercooler talk,” he said.

Knoll said there are already concerns for the future of independent theatres and their livelihood, and the strike is likely to make it worse.

To hear the full interview, watch the video at the top of this story.