Writer Nicolás Esparza on how 1985's CLUE might also have a clue on how to bring audience back to theaters
The movie going experience has been under attack for quite sometime. The rise of streaming services with high quality original content as well as access to fan favorite and classic titles from the comfort of our homes has made going to the theatre seem more and more like a chore. Larger and clearer screens coupled with high quality transfers and 4K releases has faded the allure of seeing works of art on the big screen. And finally, the skyrocketing cost of ticket prices has led to a growing class divide at the box office; with a Friday night movie becoming a pastime reserved only for the elite in some communities. For film lovers we could see these problems on the horizon but they never seemed closer than that. Then COVID-19 happened and the ticking clock on movie theatres jumped ahead about 12 hours.
Experiments in film are nothing new, usually done from a marketing perspective to draw more attendees to the box office, Avatar is the most recent example utilizing the minds of incredibly talented visual effects artists to create the world of Pandora, with it’s lush foliage and almost smellable flowers. In Mr. Cameron’s case that gamble paid off. Avarar became the second highest grossing film of all time at that point. Other experiments haven’t been so lucky. Walt Disney’s Fantasia a symphony of sights and sounds like no other failed to find an audience for decades. Earthquake’s ‘sensurround’ damaged theatres and was too expensive for many theatres but helped lead to a revolution in the way sound was utilized in filmmaking. Then there’s Jonathan Lynn’s Clue a film whose plot essentially changed with each viewing but was panned as merely a confusing gimmick. Clue may not have found its audience at the time, but like the other examples it was just ahead of its time and I believe its time is now.
What made Clue different from other films most obviously is its multiple endings. When you saw this film, it’s outcome depended on when you saw it and where. It created a fluid narrative; some argue that it was a static story with just different endings. The reveal of the killer at the end led one to replay the movie in their head and suddenly different lines, cuts, and blocking pop out to you. It was genius. The film made the story the focal point, what you came to see. Sure, its endings seem like an easy way to multiply ticket sales, but what if that bit of narrative genius could bring people back into the theatre? Visual spectacle is not the draw it once was. Perhaps a narrative spectacle could be the draw needed to save theatres.
History is cyclical, and grandiose narratives once dominated the silver screen. But the ones that remain the most enduring are those of mundane stories given grandiose treatment. Double Indemnity is merely an insurance scam Casablanca just a reunion and Clue simply a murder. But, Clue did what the rest of these films did. It took its rather straight forward plot and gave it the story it deserved. Bright, over the top characters, whacky dialogue, and narrative risks that weren’t appreciated at its time. Jonathan Lynn knew this and repeated this treatment to bring us the winning film My Cousin Vinny. There’s a large push nowadays that subtly in filmmaking is better, that in-your-face devices are somehow lesser. I believe there really is no wrong way to make a film, and if we want to save and preserve the theatre experience for the next generation, we need to end that line of thinking.
There are those who will say the audience is stupid (a fact I will vehemently deny, but I’ll save that for another time) and that their input is irrelevant in the world of art. But the truth of the matter is that we need audiences for our artform to survive, and we need to be willing to take risks to keep it. Films like Clue remind us of the great experiment that is filmmaking and the business of Hollywood. They brought us this far and I believe that turning back to them for inspiration on what experiments to try next could be the key to saving the movie theatre.
Nicolás Esparza hosts the movie podcast Reels On The Rocks, is an avid film lover and film writer.