British Film Institute: 'Twenty-three films released in one day? Stop the madness'

Film fans heading to the cinema this weekend may find themselves overwhelmed by the choice.

Far from the Madding Crowd and Monsters: Dark Continent are just two of 23 releases available in one of the biggest-ever weeks for movies opening in the UK. But the wide choice of films hasn’t found favour with everyone.

“Twenty-three films released in one day? Stop the madness,” said Ben Roberts, director of the BFI Film Fund – arguing that with more releases, the films will be seen by fewer people, have less chance to build a following, and miss out on the “visibility” of being reviewed.

“We obviously want a large audience to see a broad range of films,” he said. But he added that some audiences should perhaps be found through different platforms, such as video on demand: “a direction that we support and are looking at seriously”.

The 23 films range from the much anticipated adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel to the documentary I Am Big Bird, about the man behind the Sesame Street, character and a Punjabi film The Blood Street.

Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound magazine, said audiences for specialised films were being thinned out and films were not on screen long enough to build an audience. “It also becomes much harder for new talent and films that might have broken through to the mainstream to punch through now,” he said.

It is not the first time the BFI has raised the issue, complaining last summer when 13 films were released in a week, that the figure was already too high. “That number is ridiculous, and that it keeps going up is not sustainable,” Mr Roberts said at the time. “There’s just too much stuff out there.”

Mark Batey, the chief executive of the Film Distributors’ Association, said: “It’s been a congested market for a very long time”, adding that in the past decade film releases at the UK box office had gone from 300 each year to more than double that. In 2014, there were close to 700 films released at the cinema.

Mr Batey estimated that 15 films would now open in an average week. “It is a lot when it gets more than 20 – it’s exceptional. I’m not sure if it’s an all-time record, as the records aren’t really comparable, but it won’t be far off it.”

The conversion of all of the UK’s cinemas to digital projectors has “redefined what cinema is,” Mr Batey said, with digital files making it easier to change the programming. “[The industry] has become bewilderingly fast moving.”

Mr Batey said the number of releases could continue to rise. “There are more than 3,500 screens and they are hungry beasts, they are voracious for titles,” before adding: “It’s the sign of a market place that’s very buoyant. This year has started well.”

Cinema receipts in 2015 are up 10 per cent on last year driven by the success of films including Fifty Shades of Grey, Fast and Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Anna Smith, the chair of the UK Critics’ Circle Film Section, said a heavy week of film releases “does present a challenge” and added: “While it’s wonderful to give cinemagoers lots of choice, it would be a shame if quality releases didn’t get the press or screen space they deserve because of this.”

Crowded box office: This week’s releases

Anti-Social

Argerich

Bad Land: Road to Fury

Born of War

Darkest Day

Elsa & Fred

Falstaff Chimes at Midnight

Far from the Madding Crowd

Gabbar Is Back

Get Up & Go

I Am Big Bird

In the Blood

Letter to Momo

Made You Look

Monsters: Dark Continent

Samba

The Blood Street

The Hero of Colour City

Two by Two: Ooops… The Ark Has Gone

Unfriended

Uttama Villain

Vai Raja Vai

We Are Monster