Chris Rottenberry: Riviera Cinema director on the drop in people going to the cinema

There's growing concern among many that the traditional movie theatre experience is declining, with attendance numbers dropping over the last few years.

Anora director Sean Baker made an impassioned plea encouraging film fans to go back to the cinema during his acceptance speech at the Oscars.

Riviera Cinema director Chris Rottenberry joined the Afternoons team to discuss.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Great discussion about cinema. On the line is the director
of the Riviera Cinema and Bealcluther. Chris Rottenbury, Chris, good
afternoon to you.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hire.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
You're going very well, Thank you very much. So we've
been having a great discussion about cinema, Chris.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Chris, how is the theatrical business going at the moment?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
At the moment, I think it's on the bounce back,
which is nice since COVID all firm operators, I think
have been hanging out to twenty twenty five. That was
always the target, make it to twenty twenty five and
breathe some sort of side relief. And I think we
are seeing that bounce back now since the delays from
the pandemic and from the delays for the strikes as
well that happened in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
How depended on you on the quality and popularity of
the movies that are coming out.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Somewhat dependents. We personally like to try and push this
all the budget films where we can, the bigger films,
they get their own marketing from your disneys and things
like that, and we don't need to push them so much,
so we push the smaller independence and that's where we
sort of get our extra patronage just making people aware
of those films.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
What do you do have to do as a cinema
to get people to come along? Like, what is the
most important thing you can do to get people to
keep coming.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Back from us? Personally? There's a few things. One is,
don't take yourself too seriously. People out of the cinema,
I think they get a bit scared to do anything.
You know they're going to get told off. We're pretty
silly on social media, just doing very silly things. We
just like to have a laugh. I think that helps.
And advantizing is a big thing, you know, Ladies Nights

(01:51):
and things like that, and really pushing those that gets
people in that don't come often, and then they see
a loyalty programs and things and that brings them back.
It's just getting people back since the pandemic. And I
think once you get them back once, if you give
them a stellar experience, they will come back again.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
And Chris, how do you feel about the future sure
of cinemas.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Future of cinemas I think are in a good place.
There will still be some to close, I think, and
it's not going to be for everyone. But what we
need to do is to continue to adapt, and I
think alongside streaming, I think we can coexist.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
And this is a personal question because I'm not sure
the answer this. Are you supposed to pick up your
popcorn and all your mess on the seats or are
you supposed to leave it there for the person that
comes and cleans it up.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
I assume you leave it there first. I want to
come clean it up with that question.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
Well, just I always have been doing that and then
someone said to me, you're supposed to clean it up?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Like am I?

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Jeez? Have I've just been being a terrible person for years.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
No.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
I think common cares is to just put your rubbish
in the bins. But when it comes to popcorn and
things that.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
You can't pick up, you can't pick up every one
of them that you've dropped and.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
We are back in It takes two minutes to clean
up some popcornm not that at all?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Love it?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
And what's your pick for movies? At the moment, I'm
looking at Mickey seventeen, which looks fantastic.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, that comes out today. That looks absolutely fantastic. I
tried to watch Out last night, but our power went out,
so I'm going to try again tonight and we'll see
how it goes. The other one will probably be Tina,
which is doing great business and it's an exceptional film
for us, most as teenage and up.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, love it, Chris, Thank you very much mate. All
the very best. That is Chris Rottenbury from the Riviera
riv Era Cinema and Bell Kluther. All the best mate,
great discussion.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah, get out to the movies.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I mean, judging by the tech some phone calls,
people getting to the cinema is very much alive and well,
and that's a good thing because we need to be
supporting the movies and the cinemas.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
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