The Event Cinema Association (ECA) supports and promotes event cinema on behalf of the industry and its members. Championing the growth and raising awareness of this evolving business of ‘Big Screen’ content. Members of the Association include exhibitors, distributors and vendors.
Event cinema is one of the biggest growth areas of cinema programming. Event cinema content has successfully packaged and delivered a fruitful model that attracts new audiences to cinemas. Audiences that want to enjoy a shared experience of magical moments – whether it be opera, ballet, music, gaming – event cinema is entertaining audiences outside of the traditional forms.
What is event cinema?
Event cinema (alternative content) refers to the use of cinemas to screen a varied range of live and/or pre-recorded entertainment. These releases are typically categorised as content that is not a feature presentation and does not have a traditional theatrical window.
This is an evolving area that now incorporates content such as: sport, opera, concerts, musicals, ballet, one-off TV specials, current affairs, documentaries, comedy, art gallery exhibitions and live gaming. Event cinema is increasingly defined by its methodology of release rather than
by the content. Typically this is a ‘one or two night only’ release strategy, often accompanied by encore screenings.
That said, titles which have performed well and continue to be in demand will have a longer run in cinemas. But even those performances will still be limited and with pre-set performance times, which do not follow conventional theatrical film programming.
