Meathwoman's Diary: Cinema was never dying, it just had to become more accessible

If there was ever any doubt that going to the cinema is a dying hobby among younger generations, Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ arriving in Irish cinemas this month has, at least for me, put that theory to bed.

I love going to the cinema and try to make it a once a month activity. No matter what is showing, I always find there is something worth seeing on the big screen. I’ve been going to the cinema for years, but recently I’ve noticed something I hadn’t expected. The crowds are getting bigger and the cinema seems to be packed with a lot of young people.

Maybe the attention span of the younger generation isn’t as broken as we have been led to believe. When I was 13 or 14, the Diamond Cinema in Navan was where my friends and I spent many a Tuesday night. It cost €5 to get in to see any film, and the woman at the door would inevitably snarl at us for trying to bring in our own sweets. There were usually about 10 of us, and there is no doubt we irritated everyone else in the cinema who was actually trying to watch the film.

Twelve years later, that same cinema is now the Arc Cinema and has undergone a complete makeover. The price of going to the cinema has also increased significantly, which I think is one of the reasons many people have stopped going altogether, but I recently noticed that the Arc Cinema in Navan has introduced ‘Saver’, ‘Comfort’ and ‘Prime’ seating, all at different price points. The cheapest tickets start at just €5.50 for seats at the very front of the screen.

Since this was introduced, I’ve been to the cinema in Navan a handful of times, and each time I’ve noticed just how busy it is becoming, but it was ‘The Odyssey’ that really made me realise just how popular the cinema still is.

Last weekend, I went to check what showtimes were available for the film. As the entire film was shot specifically to be experienced in IMAX, I wanted to see it in the biggest format possible, but almost every IMAX showing was sold out for the entire week, with the exception of a handful of seats at the Odeon in Blanchardstown at 9am on a Sunday morning and, unfortunately, I was not willing to wake up at 7.30am for Christopher Nolan.

There really is something wonderful about sitting in a room full of people who are completely enthralled by what is happening on the big screen, laughing, jumping and gasping at exactly the same moment, without being consumed by the next ten-second video waiting for them on their phones.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve completely lost my own attention span, then I sit down to watch a film and realise I haven’t thought about my phone once. I’m not sure there are many places, or many things, that could hold my attention for that long, but film definitely can. In a world where we are constantly being told that our attention spans are shrinking and that nobody has the patience to sit through anything longer than a minute, the cinema offers a rare opportunity to do exactly that - sit down, shut everything else out and become completely absorbed in a story.