Richards, however, was the dissenting voice.
Richards tells us Cortellesis film is just the first feature he and his internal team plan to launch directly.
Richards and the Vue team are in Cannes where theyre busy at the market, identifying projects and collaborators.
Tim Richards.Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images.
Below, Richards speaks to us about stepping further into directly distributing films in the UK and Europe.
DEADLINE: Tim, my local cinema used to be the VUE just off Upper Street.
And Id often be surprised by the variety of the films showing there.
TIM RICHARDS:Theres this perception that certain cinemas play certain movies and others dont.
That may have been true 30 or 40 years ago, but not anymore.
Right now, theres practically no difference between an independent, art house cinema and a multiplex cinema operator.
We are all playing the same movies.
The multiplex operators are playing more independent films than Picturehouse.
Theyre also playing more independent films than Everyman cinemas.
And part of the reason is that we have more screens.
The industrys future relies on getting as many people to see movies as possible.
DEADLINE: Why do you think this binary still exists in peoples minds?
RICHARDS:I think people reminisce about the old days.
The true demarcation point was when digital projectors were introduced.
Before that, it was physically difficult to screen multiple movies in one day.
The films arrived in cans and they were heavy.
The big advancement in technology was putting them on self-winding platters.
When digital projectors were introduced, it allowed operators to show more movies to more people.
That was the beginning of the end of the classic art house cinema.
There are probably half a dozen cinemas in the UK that still stick to those original ideals.
I put Watershed in Briston in that category.
I have a lot of respect for them and I love what they do.
Even Watershed is showing commercial films.
So yes, there were some movies that we didnt show.
But in general, we are actually delivering.
At Vue, we have been able to play more movies to more people because of AI.
And a lot of that is because of AI.
DEADLINE: How are you using Artificial Intelligence?
RICHARDS:We are pioneers in the technology globally.
We started eight, almost nine years ago now.
We are only starting to talk about it now.
Before that, for corporate reasons, weve just got on with things.
We hired a group from San Francisco that had been building AI models for hedge funds in New York.
We began using very complex modeling to build our programs.
And the AI will also schedule alternative programming events around our feature films.
DEADLINE: Im sure all of your competitors are now are trying to find a way to copy this.
RICHARDS:Well, its not something that happens overnight.
DEADLINE:So VUE picked up Paola CortellesisTheres Still Tomorrow and distributed it in the UK.
And from what I understand, Vue will now be moving further into acquiring and distributing a slate.
Can you tell us more about that?
So we are getting back into the business.
This year there are some amazing movies coming out that Im excited about personally and professionally.
But we dont have as many movies as we need.
So we decided to accelerate our plans for a distribution vehicle.
I sawTheres Still Tomorrowwhen it was released in Italy just through word of mouth.
I was blown away by it.
Paola managed to somehow combine all of those into one movie.
We started discussions with the producers and Paola and agreed to bring it to the UK and promote it.
So thats our first movie.
DEADLINE: What kind of films will you be looking to pick up?
RICHARDS:Good question.
Our AI knows a lot about our audience.
We can show all these movies to our customers.
And thats our goal.
DEADLINE: That will be exciting news for many in the industry.
This is something a lot of people have been calling out for, big pockets and ambition.
So this is a natural evolution for us to start to commercialize that through a distribution vehicle.
DEADLINE:Will you be building a specific acquisitions and distribution team?
But were going to be bolstering it with some very specific skills, particularly with Asian films bringing in.
DEADLINE: Will you be picking films up in Cannes?
And what kind of directors and producers will you be working with?
RICHARDS:Everything is staying unnamed right now.
But we are accelerating our plans on this.
So theres no shortage of discussions that were going to be having.
But we are going to be very selective initially with the top films we believe in.
And then were going to start to broaden it as time goes by.
Can elaborate on what you meant?
RICHARDS:The BFI is an internationally recognized organization and its class-leading.
What I suggested was that it should try not to be afraid of commercial films.
But we also are going to be changing the look and feel of the cinema very dramatically.
