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)
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.”
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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 “Deadpool & Wolverine” as evidence that audiences remain eager for theatrical experiences. He expects the 2025 box office to be “slightly up on ’24 but not materially” before a significant upswing. “’26 and ’27 are going to be extraordinary years just looking at the sheer breadth of films that are being released,” Richards predicted.
The executive welcomed the completion of multiplex chain Cineworld’s financial restructuring, suggesting it allows the sector to turn a page. “It’s been a difficult run for everyone. Everybody’s had a difficult time, and Cineworld were really the last ones to kind of come out and go through their process,” Richards said. “It’s nice to have them back, and it’s nice because the narrative on the sector can now start to change again, as opposed to having bad news about restructurings and refinancings.”
The continuing success of premium formats reinforces Richards’ optimism. Vue is expanding its luxury offerings, with plans to launch the company’s own Premium Large Format (PLF) screens while maintaining existing partnerships with Imax and Dolby.
“We are going to be launching our own PLF shortly,” Richards said. “They’re going to have a set of criteria that will be a very high standard… enhanced laser projectors with the incredible Dolby Atmos sound systems, very big screens with recliner seats.” The company recently opened a next-generation cinema in Swindon, U.K., featuring all-recliner seating, an Imax screen and new Ultra Lux premium seats with integrated wine coolers.
Vue has been an early adopter of AI technology, which has been in charge of booking films for nearly nine years. “AI determines what we show at what cinema, on what screen and at what time,” Richards said, crediting the system with helping Vue understand customer preferences across European markets. “As a consequence, we play 50% more movies at any one time than our major competitors, and 46% of all films that we show in the U.K. are foreign language films,” Richards noted.
Following Vue’s pioneering move to eliminate traditional box offices in 2003, the chain has also removed concession stands completely. “Our focus has been the journey that our customer takes from the bus stop or the parking lot into their seat. We’re trying to eliminate queuing. We’re trying to make the entire process a little bit more exciting,” he said. “We have a much bigger lineup of retail products now for customers — roughly three times as many as we were able to have behind a concession stand, and we are six to 12 months away from doing a full Amazon-style checkout.”
Vue’s recent expansion into distribution through Vue Lumiere represents what Richards called “turning the clock back” to the company’s early days, when it co-produced films with the Isle of Man. “We saw a gap in the market for smaller films, smaller independent films and foreign-language films,” Richards explained, citing the company’s success distributing the Italian film “There Is Still Tomorrow” in the U.K.
“We are hoping to do between six to 12 movies a year, and our ultimate goal is down the road — not this year, probably not next year — to get back to our roots again and start to look at production of smaller independent films,” he said.
When asked about potential conflicts with other distributors, Richards emphasized collaboration: “We’re not trying to compete with anyone. We just saw a gap in the market that we’re trying to actually fill. We are bringing these movies in for everyone, not just for Vue customers.”
Richards also expressed optimism about improved relationships between exhibitors and studios post-pandemic while voicing hope that streaming services would embrace theatrical distribution more broadly, specifically mentioning Netflix.
“Netflix have got some amazing movies and documentaries and TV shows. We’d like to show all of their content on our screens,” Richards said. “‘Emilia Pérez’ was an incredible film that deserved to be seen on a big screen, and unfortunately wasn’t. It had a very limited, small release. And for a film that’s that good, it deserved a broader theatrical release worldwide.”
Despite ongoing challenges in the exhibition landscape, Richards remains confident about cinema’s future: “I’m very, very bullish on the future of our industry.”
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