Dubai Cinema Chronicles post Pandemic Lockdown
The cinemas in Dubai re-opened on May 27, after cinemas across the UAE (and more or less around the world) closed on March 15. My first visit to the cinema in Dubai was on June 7 after 12 weeks of missing it immensely.
It was so good to be back. Cinemas are important, and after lamenting about it here in April, we need to do whatever we can to make them stay.
Since the re-opening, I’ve been going to the cinema several times a week, and most of the time, I’ve been the only one at the cinema, or joined by a handful of other attendees at the same screening. I’m used to watching films alone in cinemas (I’ve made a habit of going to matinee screenings and avoiding the cinemas during peak hours for the past few years), but I did wonder where the cinephiles of Dubai are.
During the first few weeks or re-opening, the multiplexes scheduled a line-up of recent releases, and since June 25 new films have been released too (many of which missed out on a theatrical release in America because the cinemas there are still closed). I go into more details about the films in the second half of this piece.
Whilst I understand the hesitation of going to the cinema and low attendance for re-releases in the first few weeks, the attendance for the new films at the multiplexes have also been quite low so far. Whilst VOX Cinemas in Mall of the Emirates appears to be the busiest, its other locations and the other multiplexes have seen a drop in audience numbers since they re-opened.
Anecdotally, people don't think it's safe to go back to cinemas or aren’t interested in watching re-released films or not drawn to the new films released so far. On the other hand, some who expressed safety concerns are also looking forward to watching Tenet at the cinema. The idea that cinema is for the ‘big films’ and the rest can be watched at home depresses me. People seem to forget or ignore that even quiet and small films deserve to be watched in cinemas too. It’s unfortunate to see in the past few months how home streaming has quickly fast tracked people’s expectations to watch anything they want from the comforts of their home.
Despite the delayed releases of scheduled tentpole titles, and with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet lined up as the 2020 summer blockbuster (scheduled to be released here on the night of August 26), there have been many other new releases in Dubai cinemas and a small shining moment for small-mid budget films.
Tenet has already taken up so much space in the press and even though I’m looking forward to it, I don’t want to be part of the hype brigade. All the articles and discussions about the constant rescheduling of its release in the past few months felt more like marketing ploys by the studios to make cinemas wait with bated breath and be saved by it. It was so refreshing to read South Korea celebrating its own summer blockbuster last month with Peninsula (the sequel to Train to Busan) and not waiting for Hollywood to rescue its cinemas.
Peninsula is scheduled to be released here on August 20, so it will be interesting to see if this will encourage more people to go to the cinema. Additionally, the 10th year anniversary release of Inception is in cinemas this week, but so far there hasn’t been any buzz about it. Which leads me to thoughts about the lack of collective efforts and communications by the cinema community, including filmmakers, about going back to the cinemas. Even the “movie buffs” on social media, some consider themselves “cinema influencers” have mostly been discussing what they’re binge watching on Netflix. I’ve also not seen much public discourse locally about missing the cinema or the importance of cinema. It’s as if everyone eased into streaming mode.
The local press has not published anything insightful about the effects of the pandemic on cinemas in the UAE. In the past few months I’ve just seen glib commentaries about the importance of cinema, articles covering the recent drive-in cinemas in Dubai from a novelty perspective that come across as PR fluff pieces, regular (and lazy) listicles of what to watch online, articles about film related news based on viral tweets or film festivals featuring Arab filmmakers. Not having a local publication (in Arabic or English) with authoritative reporting about arts and culture is a reflection of the sorry state of cultural journalism here.
The following is an overview based on personal experiences and observations from the past few months.
Whilst they were closed, some of the Dubai multiplexes offered home delivery pop-corn and other food options from their menus and their communications and marketing messages during the lockdown made them sound more like restaurants than cinemas. Dubai’s Cinema Akil offered its followers a three month free trial to the streaming service MUBI and on April 29 launched Cine Talks, an online film club.
In the neighbouring emirates, Sharjah Art Foundation and The Africa Institute moved their films screenings online and continue to do so because their screening venues are still closed. In Abu Dhabi, Cinema Space has been running its community screenings online with scheduled film viewings on streaming platforms like Netflix, MUBI, Aflamuna, Criterion Channel, to name a few. Manarat Al Saadiyat recently hosted its second edition of CineMAS online (I featured its first edition here).
Before the cinemas re-opened, the drive-in cinema made a comeback in Dubai. On May 13, VOX Cinemas in Mall of the Emirates launched a drive in cinema on the mall’s rooftop car park, and on May 30, Reel Cinemas launched its own drive-in cinema on the rooftop car park in Dubai Mall Zabeel followed by 2 more in Dubai Hills Estate and Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Charging AED 160-180 per car, initially with a maximum of two people per car, but then increased to more later, and a line-up of Hollywood blockbusters and recent releases like 1917, Bad Boys of Life, Birds of Prey, Knives Out and Joker. Eventually, the drive-in cinemas were also used to host product launches and a graduation ceremony. In Sharjah, Aljada by Arada, a new residential and commercial complex launched Movie Nights at Aljada on July 1, its own drive-in cinema with nightly screenings that is free to attend with a line up of blockbuster franchise films to smaller films like You Got Mail, School of Rock, Mamma Mia. This month’s line up includes Clueless, Ocean’s Eleven, Runaway Bride, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, plus films from Egypt (Captain Masr, Photocopy, El Nazer) and short films from the Gulf region (Sandarah, Violin, Our Neighbour Bu Hamad). I did not go to any of the drive-in cinemas in Dubai, too expensive for one person, not dark enough and I suspect too many distractions that won’t make me enjoy the experience. I’d still like to experience a drive-in cinema, but will wait till I find the right venue and film for it, and the right mood too.
To encourage people to return to their venues, the cinemas heavily promoted the new health and safety guidelines, including extra deep cleaning, reduced seating capacity meeting physical distance requirements, contactless payment and self-scanning of tickets, mandatory face mask (which can be removed when eating/drinking) - I’ve not seen any of the cinemas I’ve been to enforcing mandatory face mask when not eating/drinking. Roxy Cinemas also has a thermal reader and sanitation tunnel at its entrances. The online seat maps show the layout of the reduced seating capacity and blocked rows, and in the cinemas, the seats and rows are clearly marked indicating where you can and cannot sit. A couple of cinemas have tried to be creative with the appearance of the blocked seats, Reel Cinemas have photos of celebrities on their blocked seats and Cinema Akil has yellow strip tapes across its seats with a quote from Mean Girls, “You can’t sit with us”.
You can click on the following to read all the COVID-19 safety measures per cinema: VOX Cinemas, Novo Cinemas, Reel Cinemas, Roxy Cinemas, Cinema Akil
The cinemas are also promoting a private theatre service, marketed as a safe and comfortable way to watch films (from the existing line up of releases) with family and friends. Starting from AED 450 to going up to approximately AED 2000, with a restricted maximum number of attendees, and depending on the cinema, it includes meals too.
Cinema size and location is even more significant during a pandemic, be it a standalone cinema or in a mall. Additionally, despite promoting the ‘contactless’ cinema experience, we still have to, depending on the venue, press buttons (parking ticket, elevators), touch door handles (to enter a cinema or toilet). How soon can I get to the cinema from my car with the least human contact/interaction was a vital factor in which cinemas I decided to visit, especially in the first few weeks since the cinemas opened their doors.
As for the films, the re-opening schedule at the multiplexes started with the re-release of film titles from March (The Invisible Man, The Call of the Wild, Bloodshot), plus recent releases like Parasite, Little Women, Bad Boys for Life, Birds of Prey, Jojo Rabbit and other films like Midway, Knives Out, Joker, Rambo: Last Blood, Mission Impossible - Fallout, The Quiet Place to name a few. The cinemas have also been showing live football matches. Bloodshot appears to be the longest running film in cinemas since May 28. I have not yet seen it, but every week I see it listed, I feel like I’m being taunted.
I was envious of cinemagoers in Japan, its largest multiplex opened with classics like Ben-Hur, The Wizard of Oz, East of Eden, Bonnie and Clyde, Blade Runner. None of the cinemas used the re-opening as an opportunity to dig deeper into the film library of distributors, despite seeing posts on some of the cinemas and local film distributor’s social media accounts celebrating Jaws’ 45th anniversary without screening it, or celebrating Clint Eastwood’s 90th birthday, Willem Dafoe’s 65th, Angelina Jolie’s 45th, Ian McKellen’s 81st without programming their films, or honoring Black Lives Matter without programming films addressing this cause.
VOX announced a film festival between May and June of “greatest blockbusters”, “best of 2019’s Oscar winners” and “unmissable DC and Marvel films” which was basically a selection of recently released films. It did, however, include Mad Max: Fury Road as a “Warner Bros. re-release” (instead of highlighting it as a fifth anniversary release), and I was glad to get a chance to re-watch it on the big screen.
Roxy Cinemas hosted a Bollywood Film Festival as an “Event Cinema” on the weekend of August 5-6, but it only included four films that were also already in cinemas since they re-opened - Baaghi 3, Dream Girl, Good News, Tanhaji. It felt like a missed opportunity to host a film festival showing Bollywood classics on the big screen.
All the multiplexes were showing the same films, with minimal efforts to try something different to bring back people to the cinema. I saw several comments left on social media asking cinemas to think about screening Hollywood cults films or classics that get no response.
My return to the cinema started by watching a few of the re-released films I had initially missed (Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Thappad, Farmageddon, Sonic the Hedgehog). I also re-visited a few films I wanted to see again, like The Invisible Man (after re-watching Hollow Man after many years at home), Gemini Man (I had previously seen the 3D+ HFR version in London and wanted to see what the non-HFR version looked like - I prefer the non-HFR version), Venom which I had only watched on a plane, Ford v Ferrari because it’s one of my favourite films, 47 Meters Down because there’s no new summer shark film and also because it’s a great shark movie worth seeing again.
The Wretched was the first new film in cinemas since the re-opening. Released on June 25, it was marketed as “America’s number 1 movie” because of its success at the drive-in cinemas.
It was followed by more new indie horror films from the US (The Hunt, Becoming, Z, The Rental), the UK (Amulet) and Taiwan (The Bridge Curse). A new release this week is a croc-horror from Australia called Black Water: Abyss.
Other new international films I watched in the past couple of months:
- Coma, an English dubbed Russian sci-fi Inception wannabe
- Golden Job, a film from Hong Kong originally made in Cantonese, but dubbed in Mandarin for the UAE market, to appease the Chinese cinema-goers if any
- The Iron Mask, a Chinese/Russian production bloated pantomime with a cast that includes Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger
- The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, a British produced period piece set in 19th century India
- The Postcard Killings (a British-American production) about serial killings across multiple cities in Europe
A couple of American small to mid-range budget action films were also released:
- Debt Collectors aka The Debt Collector 2 (a sequel to the 2018 film The Debt Collector) is a hark back to the 1990s action-comedy buddy films
- Force of Nature, about a heist gone wrong during a hurricane evacuation mission set in Puerto Rico.
Ava, a more star studded action film starring Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell and John Malkovich is the latest release this week.
Made in Italy starring Liam Neeson and his son Micheál Richardson is a charming and touching film about an estranged father-son relationship, and considering the travel restrictions many of us are experiencing this summer, it’s also a good visual escape to Tuscany.
The Personal History of David Copperfield and My Spy were great for laughs, and The High Note is the summer comfort film I needed.
There have been no new releases of Indian films, normally there’d be at least two to four films per week. As for Arab films, despite a strong presence of critically acclaimed films in international festivals during the past year, none received a theatrical release, and several have gone straight to VOD or streaming platforms. Two new Egyptian films were released since the Eid Al Adha weekend - El Ghasala (The Washing Machine) and Gedo Mashakel (A Horrible Grandpa), and one Lebanese film Yom Eh Yom La2. Based on their trailers, they appear to be the usual low-brow soap opera style comedies. As for local film productions that can be shown in cinemas, the pandemic has amplified the regressed state of filmmaking in the UAE.
Away from the multiplexes, Cinema Akil opened on June 12. I’ve not been, but it started with a limited ten day release of The Trip to Greece, followed by a “Journey to Italy” programme of four films screened in July (La Dolce Vita, The Great Beauty, Il Postino, Mediterraneo). This month’s theme is “Voyage to France” with a line up of four films - The 400 Blows, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Beaches of Agnès and L’Atalante.
An unexpected venue in Dubai also started to screen films this summer. Alliance Française announced in July it will screen films in its own movie theatre space five days a week (between Saturday and Wednesday) with a line up of classics and recent releases.
I spent many evenings there last month, it was a welcomed life line for me to be able to catch up on films I’ve never seen before, despite a few not shown in their best format. The screenings continue this month, and hopefully for the rest of the year. It was also the only venue that had a line up of films that felt relevant to our current times. The July line up included films paying tribute to caregivers, and films featuring wide open spaces (something many of us are craving in our daily lives). There was also a tribute to Michel Piccoli who passed away in May. The image below features the films I watched in July (Eric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale made me miss lazy days by the beach, Costa Gavras’ Un homme de trop / Shock Troops from 1967 has been a favourite film discovery so far), and I’m looking forward to watching more this month.
As we wait for Tenet, these are the expected new releases in the next few weeks in Dubai:
Peninsula
Live aka Line of Duty
Valley Girl
Promare
Follow Me
Fatima
The Outpost
Unhinged
Mulan
Weathering With You
Bill & Ted Face the Music
The King’s Man
Antebellum
No Way Back aka Don’t Get Out
I’m not ready to sit in a packed theatre in Dubai, but I do hope the next few weeks will see more people visiting the cinemas. Don’t let them die a slow death.
All photos by Hind Mezaina, except the photo of Cinema Akil which was taken from its press release.