Kevin Feige has no fears for cinema
Kevin Feige has no fears for the future of cinema.
The movie industry has seen some major changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but the Marvel Studios president has an optimistic view on the future of the theatrical experience after a meeting with film heavyweights.
In an appearance on The Movie Business Podcast, Kevin said: "I was talking to somebody, and I will not namedrop, but I was on a Zoom with a group of people and I sort of shared this, 'Is it gonna go away? Is the movie business gonna go away?' And this very smart person, said, 'It's not'.
"He said, 'It's gonna take a few years,' and this person said three years, and this was almost three years ago (around 2020). (They) said, 'It'll take about three years to get better.'
"And I thought, 'That's horrible, I want it to take six months to get better.' And this very smart person turned out to be right."
Kevin revealed that the person in question likened going to the cinema to attending a sporting event as both have a "shared experience" for passionate fans.
The Marvel chief said: "But this person also said, I'm not a sports fan, but this person said, 'Look, anybody can watch any football game they want on television. But every week, hundreds of thousands, millions of people still go into stadiums in freezing cold, in the rain, with a ton of people, driving, parking, overspending for a beer and a hotdog, because that shared experience is necessary for humanity. And that if one day, you start to see stadiums empty at sporting events, then you can start worrying about theatrical. But that's not gonna happen, because you need a shared experience.'"