By the late 1980s the art film landscape has radically changed. The art-house cinema circuit was shrinking. Many of the smaller theatres had obsolete technological system, out of date architectural space – simply became moribund. Apart from these obvious pragmatic factors, what once was a banner and main differentiation of the art house venues namely the films on the screen, was getting blurred. What exemplifies this shift is the growing importance of the independent American cinema as after the success of Sex, Lies and Videotapes at Cannes in 1989 and the emergence of so named “smart” American film in the 1990s accumulated around Sundance festival. The system of distinction of art cinema was not that much prevailed anymore. Mainstream will …show more content…
On the other hand the general patterns of film exhibition and consumption were undergoing a revolutionary transition. This situation was a corollary of two fundamental events: the spread of home video technology and the arrival of the multiplex cinema. The latter was a grand redevelopment of a traditional cinema, upgraded with high quality technology and facilities to an enormous scale of multiplied numbers of screens. Multiplexes were built in the United States as early as 1960s, however Britain’s first multiplex – the Point in Milton Keynes opened in 1985. They brought introduced a new cinema entertainment experience. A leisure package multiplexes had to offer consisted of a “whole night/day out” – not only cinema but also shopping, eating, drinking, bowling, dancing etc. was all within reach. Hanson accurately compares this new phenomena to ‘Mcdonaldization’ process. Such a new form of business was based on capitalist efficacy, general standardisation, control and predictability. As in every fast-food chain restaurant the environment is uniformed according to the branding requirements, every site is familiar to the customer regardless where do you visit the object. To increase efficiency and profitability