Give Me a Break: Why Cinemas Want to Bring Back Intermissions

Pamela McClintock
·4 min read
26

In the days leading up to the Oct. 20 release of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lyric cinema in Fort Collins, Colorado, fielded some unusual calls from customers. They all wanted to know if the Western crime epic, which runs three hours and 26 minutes, would have an intermission. And, if not, could one be added?

The art house cinema obliged and inserted an eight-minute break. It wasn’t long before a customer’s photo of an ad highlighting the intermission went viral and The Lyric received a call from Paramount, which is distributing the film, saying it had violated the booking contract and fines could be levied. “We didn’t know we had done anything wrong,” says Lyric manager Aaron Varnell, who recently added “chaos cultivator” to his title in a nod to challenging times.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

In Long Beach, California, the Art Theatre — a single-screen theater built in 1925 — likewise hoped an intermission would lure more customers to see Killers of the Flower Moon on the big screen, versus waiting 45 days to watch it on Apple TV+. “Our thinking was, we can really make this an event,” says Kerstin Kansteiner, who heads the board of the nonprofit theater. “It gives folks the opportunity to use the restroom, and it could also make for extra concession sales, which is literally how we pay our bills these days.”

The idea was abandoned when the Art’s film booker reached out to Paramount before the film opened and was told an intermission wasn’t allowed. “It was disappointing,” says Kansteiner. “We understand that directors have a vision and don’t want to take the viewer out of the film, but it’s problematic if you make a film that’s three hours and 26 minutes long.” Because the Art has only one screen, the second evening showing didn’t begin until around 9 p.m., with the daunting prospect of a 12:30 a.m. finish.

Cinemas that survived the pandemic are still trying to find their footing during the streaming boom; as much as 15 percent of the moviegoing population hasn’t yet returned to theaters, according to data collected by Hollywood studios. This applies especially to older adults, the target audience for Killers of the Flower Moon and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which runs three hours. These longer films mean fewer showtimes, too, which compounds concerns for cinemas when it comes to ticket sales.

According to the film website What to Watch, the average length of the top 10 movies in 2022 was two hours and 21 minutes, compared to one hour and 50 minutes in 1981. While it’s true that three of the four top-grossing movies of all time at the global box office — Avengers: Endgame, Avatar: The Way of Water and Titanic — run longer than three hours, Vue Cinemas head Tim Richards says that doesn’t mean customers shouldn’t have options.

So Richards engineered a test in which Vue offered its U.K. customers the choice to see Killers of the Flower Moon in one interrupted viewing or with a 15-minute intermission (in Europe they’re known as “intervals” or “comfort breaks”).

“Scorsese is one of the greatest directors of all time, with an extraordinary film, and we didn’t want to alienate any of our customers because of the running time. It is the first time we’ve had an interval in decades,” Richards says. “Right off the bat, 30 percent of our customers chose to watch the movie with an interval even if it meant staying longer. And 85 percent said they would absolutely come back and watch a movie with an interval.” Vue was also asked to cease the breaks, but no fines were issued. (Scorsese, Apple and Paramount haven’t commented since the cinemas were asked to end intermissions.)

Late last year, some theaters had reached out about including an intermission with 20th Century’s Avatar: The Way of Water (three hours and 12 minutes) and said they were told no per the wishes of James Cameron, according to exhibition sources. “Imagine being immersed in the world of Avatar and having a sudden break. It would be hard to get back into the movie,” says one Hollywood studio executive not affiliated with the film. “But I get the frustration with these longer movies on the part of exhibitors.”

Richards and the other cinema operators THR spoke with say any film longer than two hours and 30 minutes might benefit from a break. That would include a slew of recent titles, including Ridley Scott’s new epic, Napoleon.

There’s evidence to back up the theory that intermissions could boost grosses for all involved. The Lyric saw a bigger turnout than usual on the second weekend of Killers of the Flower Moon — before word got out there were no more breaks during the film. Adds Varnell, “People said after, ‘I just kept waiting for the intermission. I really needed to pee.’”

This story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter