The Spanish box office is in crisis. However, we pack the theaters to see re-releases of classics. Is one of the many contradictions that populate the current theaters, an industry on the tightrope during this season. The re-release of ‘Back to the Future’, if it succeeds at the box office (which it will) will serve to corroborate a series of possible solutions to this seemingly hopeless situation. And without the need for a Delorean.
‘Back to the Future’ returns. The film directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg in 1985 returns to theaters around the world for its 40th anniversary. Marty McFly’s journeys through the (apparently) happy fifties to get his parents to fall in love so he can be conceived retain the same charm as the day it premiered. For this reason, starting October 31, Universal is re-releasing the classic in theaters throughout Spain, which will allow more than one generation of viewers to discover it on the big screen.
Why we still like it. First of all, It’s still a perfect adventure: Its alchemical mix of comedy and science fiction is absolutely canonical and has a script taken care of down to the smallest detail, full of nuances that, even after having been revised dozens of times, continue to provide surprises to the viewer. And above all, it is not a film that the film industry has worn out: after the original trilogy, which works compactly as a single narrative, there have been no sequels (more or less) no remakes (nor will there be any as long as their original managers can prevent it). Unlike most hits of the eighties, ‘Back to the Future’ remains untouched in a bubble that, significantly, prevents it from aging.
The situation. This re-release arrives in a crisis situation at the Spanish box office. The domination of streaming has led us to a peculiar and paradoxical panorama: we watch more movies than ever, we go to the movies less than ever. According to the Statistical Yearbook According to the SGAE, 60.7% of the Spanish population watches at least one movie a week, while a significant 15% watch it daily. Howeverand here comes the dark side of the issue, in 2024 attendance fell 5% compared to 2023, with 71 million viewers and 477 million euros in income, 2.2% less than the previous year, stagnating at pre-pandemic figures.
The platforms have transformed traditional habitsoffering the possibility of watching movies and series on multiple devices (TV, computer, mobile), at any time and place, apart from being much more economical.
We need events. These are signs that point to a “crisis of spaces”: people do not want to stop watching movies, but rather turn a visit to the cinema into something special. That is why re-releases of classics and the return to the big screen of all kinds of hits from the past work so well. For example, this past summer we had the 50th anniversary re-release of ‘Shark‘, a film that worked wonderfully at the US box office and also in Spanish.
The beautiful nostalgia. Obviously, no matter how much you have managed to escape from fashions and trends of the mainstream of Hollywood and not giving in to sequels or remakes, the re-release of ‘Back to the Future’ is the result of another of the trends that mark the agenda of international cinema: nostalgia. It is thanks to her that these cinema re-releases are working just as well or even better than conventional releases: in 2022 we had the 50th anniversary of ‘The Godfather’in 2018 a restored version of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the classic installments of ‘Star Wars’ return again and again to theaters, in the same way that ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Lord of the Rings’ do…
Good proof that venues need to find new formulas. And perhaps turning to classics and revivals is one that also needs to be reviewed before it, like the rest of the box office, ends up singed.
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