Vue CEO Tim Richards on Continued Strike Recovery, Getting Back Into Production and Wanting to Work With Streamers: ‘Emilia Pérez’ ‘Deserved to Be on a Big Screen’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment, Europe’s largest privately owned cinema operator, has said that the cinema exhibition business is poised for a strong comeback after weathering pandemic disruptions and Hollywood strikes.

Richards also delivered the keynote address at the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) Convention on Wednesday. “Ten years from now we’re going to look back at [the upcoming] ‘Avatar’ and think that was the end and the beginning,” Richards told Variety. “The end of everything that the industry has been through in the last five years, with the pandemic and the strikes, and the beginning of a new era of film.” While acknowledging that the U.K.

box office remained flat in 2024 compared to 2023, Richards pointed to lingering effects from the Hollywood strikes as the primary culprit rather than any fundamental shift in audience behavior. “What we’re seeing is the aftermath of the strikes,” Richards said. “Even during the strikes, we saw filmmakers right across Europe stop.

And the reason for that was, if you’re a filmmaker, your dream is to do a Hollywood film at some point in your career, and you did not want to do anything that would jeopardize that from happening.” The Vue chief pointed out that production didn’t meaningfully restart until February and March of 2024, creating a supply chain issue still affecting theatrical releases. “We suffered in ’23 and ’24 because of it, and we’re going to have the aftermath as well in ’25,” he said. “During that period, we have broken all records for films of all genres and all demographics, and it’s proven again that we have a supply issue and not a demand issue.” Richards cited the success of films like “Inside Out 2” and.