Peter Bart: We’ll go back to the future for the box office if “Top Gun” sequel hits Stratosphere

There is big news at the box office this week, not so much in its sums as in its totemic significance. people are welcome Top Gun: MaverickBut will kids join seniors in watching the nearly 60-year-old actor in the hit 36 ​​sequel? At the other end of the audience spectrum, the old grab the head to capture the new Town center And also betray the children: the film has a questionable title Downton Abbey: a new era Motivation of the youth square.

These are exciting days for the industry that is looking for clues to two great puzzles: Are you really craving the cool comforts of a broad demographic of cinema? And if so, what kind of movies do your broadcast fatigue tackle?

There is a dark period in Los Angeles: the Landmark Theater Pico, the historic cathedral of independent cinema, will close its doors for good shortly after it opens. downton abbey. Carlos S. Cohen, Landmark owner and dedicated cinematographer (owns 35 other cinemas (195 screens), has his opinion on these questions (see below).

Those spectators who are Town center This week, loathsome lovers can turn to alternative cinema, whose characters suffer from their own personal dissociative disorders. Marvelous Doctor Strange in many worlds of madness Compete with many other defenders of the mind, eg. all everywhere at onceWhich is in a more indie oriented multiverse.

“Emotional swing strange doctor “By allowing a miraculous visit to characters from other Marvel films, every voice squirts with joy,” wrote Anthony Lane, critic for The New Yorker.

But will the refreshing spectators share the joy? The story casts a shadow here: When Hollywood plunged into the Great Depression generations ago, Jack Warner promptly canceled his hilarious musicals (42nd street) Go ahead with the gangster gangster movies list. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart’s paintings, which advocated “equality” of the law, attracted predatory ticket buyers. The gangsters themselves must soon take down the heroic figures of World War II.

Who will be the heroes of the present? to get used to Code It whetted our appetite for the likable genre, but this film never really got a chance in the motion picture market when it won an Oscar for Apple. In fact, independent producers believe the Apple-Netflix business model will effectively hinder their ability to attract production cash from European territories by streaming deals across all major markets.

However, veteran independent filmmakers like Albert Berger and Ron Ercha believe that the festival’s revitalized circle can still provide solid launchpads for their product as it did for their product. little lady ray of sunshine, cold mountain Y Elections. His new movie somewhere in the queensIt is a moving story about an Italian-American family, directed and played by Ray Romano.

Berger believes independent paintings, if carefully installed, can still be funded and distributed, but theaters should become “welcoming places with food and wine and even bookstores. “The shared cinematic experience will become even more valuable in the post-pandemic moment,” he said.

This view is supported by distributors such as Neon’s Tom Quinn, who argues that when viewers sit at home and check their experiences, turning movies on and off, “this is no longer a movie because it’s not an emotional commitment. “.

This view is gaining the support of Charles s. De Cohen, who is opening new theaters in Scottsdale, Arizona, Annapolis, Maryland and elsewhere as Landmark closes, is also looking for new perspectives in Los Angeles. Cohen credits his Landmark closure to a stubborn landlord who asked for too much money in that defunct part of Los Angeles.

Cohen argues that we are in a time of significant change in cinema. “Our venues must be complete entertainment venues that draw audiences from all shows.” Cohen hopes Tom Cruise’s film will be intergenerational, in contrast to earlier this year’s blockbusters, which were mostly played by young men. Abundantly Town centerAccording to Cohen, it is possible to rediscover the energy cinema of geriatrics.

Cohen himself, who came from a wealthy real estate family, has interests in various aspects of film. In addition to his theaters, Cohen has a library that includes nearly 1,000 films by French and European directors, as well as works by Buster Keaton, Merchant-Ivory Productions, and other artists. Cohen Media also has a channel on Amazon Prime and is launching a new film called London. Hash operation, a WWII thriller starring Colin Firth and directed by John Madden. He also created the is a great busterA film about Buster Keaton, directed by the late Peter Bogdanovich.

Cohen hopes that by the end of the summer, clues will once again point to the emergence of a new, enduring film.