The team at Film.Ca Cinemas officially launched Zuzu Video on Demand in April and has been working since to improve the website’s catalogue of movies. CEO of Film.Ca Cinemas and Town Councillor Jeff Knoll says that this is more than just a way to survive the meagre times of COVID-19 Canada.
"We wanted to find things that could potentially not only help us in the short term, we wanted to find things that could potentially help us be more durable going forward," says Knoll.
The 2020 COVID-19 recession was difficult on all businesses and movie theatres and other forms of entertainment were hit hard. Not being able to host in-person customers for the majority of the year, it is estimated that the cinema industry’s global revenue fell by over 60% in 2020.
Knoll says that their theatre had just began to expand when the pandemic hit.
"We had just come off of a couple of really solid years. We just had this upwards trajectory every year, more audience acceptance…the pandemic came along and stopped us in our tracks," he says.
This is when he and his team began developing ideas for pandemic pivots: ways that they could generate new sources of revenue for the theatre within the world of film and entertainment.
"We saw the dominance of streaming services in the entertainment offering for consumers and felt that we need to actually create a business model on the principle of if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em," says Knoll.
Zuzu Video on Demand offers monthly or annual subscription plans for a variety of different movie channels. Knoll says that Zuzu has purchased licensing to 850 films as of this week and expects to have a couple of thousand uploaded by the end of May.
Converting the in-person movie experience to a temporary online streaming service is not unheard of during the pandemic. The Toronto International Film Festival offered online viewing options in 2020 and the Hot Docs Documentary Festival is currently showing its full list of 2021 films on its website.
However, Knoll sees Zuzu Video on Demand as more than just a band-aid to make up for lost pandemic revenue. He believes this could change how his theatre makes money and serves the public for years.
Transforming into streaming service requires new negotiations with production companies and distributors. Knoll and his staff have also sought out one-on-one deals with Canadian filmmakers for the rights to showcase their work on the website.
"Right now we’re doing it with specific filmmakers as a way of learning what the routine is. And, to prove ourselves in the industry, I think that's a big piece of it."
This way of operating also allows Zuzu to highlight the work of under-appreciated Canadian writers and directors.
"It came from that desire to want to find a way to bring fame and acclaim to Canadian films, series and short films," he continues. "It started out as a slow kind of little project and it’s become a much more major thing that we’re really trying to push now."
In order to find a place in the competitive streaming industry, Knoll believes that Zuzu will benefit from its more niche offerings. Its catalogue includes less well-known Canadian films.
The Film.Ca Presents series highlights a new film once a week. The first movie they're showing is Jasmine Road, a drama about a Syrian refugee family finding their way in rural Canada. It won numerous awards at the Calgary International Film Festival.
"You're going to find a lot of hidden gems that you wouldn't other wise find, also a lot of films that maybe hit the festival circuit but didn't really make it into commercial distribution," Knoll says. "Those are the kind of things we specialize in, bringing awareness to titles that didn't get the attention they deserve."
Monthly subscriptions, single-film premiere access and free public domain content are all available online here with Zuzu Video on Demand. The service is also available for streaming through AppleTV, Roku, Amazon FireTV and Android.