Are you kidding? Of course you can blame them. Even if it were only one person in the theater, they’d traveled God knows how far, burned gas, paid money and so they deserve to see what was promised to them by a ticket purchase (barring a power outage or fire). Never have I bought a movie ticket and was told I cannot see said movie because they wanted to change up the schedule. That’s outrageous and would be ripe for a better business bureau complaint.

By your own words, it would seem that I’m being long-sighted and yours is in the short sight, considering that you’re talking about the impact on an indie filmmaker while I’m discussing the state of the entire indie horror industry.

I agreed that it was a really crappy thing. I was just throwing out my thoughts – no need to resort to insults. Whether you agree or disagree with me, I’d say that I explained myself fairly well…

Tell that to indie filmmakers who don’t make money because their movie gets bumped due to Hollywood’s next bout of explosive diarrhea marketed as a movie. You’re being short sighted and idiotic.

Haha I love Blue Moon, what can I say?!

BUT, your anger should be pointed more at the other “nerds” in your town who run like sheep to see Avengers Part Deux rather than support a terrific film like EX MACHINA. TWO PEOPLE in the theater? TWO? THAT is what is pathetic, as bad as the theater managers acted.

The bottom line is NOT the be all and end all for art. The art happened when they made the film, not when they screened it at the theater. Presumably, the artists were still allowed to make the film they wanted to make and we will all still get a chance to see it. The theater itself (sad as it may be) has no obligation to uphold the artform. They ARE a business and should be run as such. If the filmmakers themselves compromised their art for the bigger picture, then I could see your point. But, as it stands, the art still exists as it was intended – there was just one less opportunity to see it that day…

Not necessarily – a lot of distributor/theater contracts allow for such things as long as the minimum number of runs is met. Considering the distribution model thus far for this film, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already working on optional extensions. We don’t know the details of the contract, so it’s hard for us to say what is and what isn’t legal…

1. Like you mentioned, Hollywood is a business. OF COURSE The Avengers is going to be the hot ticket on its opening night. Had Ex Machina been a little more booked, then I would seriously doubt that they’d do that. But, because they only had to inconvenience two people, they made a business decision. Now, having said that, they DID still inconvenience two people, which is wrong (and, I hope they made all efforts to make it up to you), but it’s not the end of the world. Which, brings me to my next point:

2. You’re kind of acting as if this is somehow a death blow to indie cinema and it’s a bad sign of things to come, but that’s simply not true. Just a few years ago, you would have had ZERO chance to see a movie like Ex Machina in a theater at all. Much less, things like Roar, Spring, It Follows, etc… So, while you see it as a nail in the coffin, I think it’s a positive thing that a movie like this even had a place to BE bumped from. Plus, with VOD and other digital platforms, it’s easier than ever to see interesting, challenging films like this one.

What I’m getting at is that, yes, it truly sucks that this happened to you. I would have been just as pissed as you are. But, I would have only been pissed for myself, and not for the indie film market. While you can’t necessarily EXPECT something like this to happen to you, you can’t be COMPLETELY shocked that it did when you were the only two people there on opening night of The Avengers. It’s not like it was replacing the film for the entire run – it’s inconvenient, but I’m willing to bet that it was available to be seen on any other day – it was just a one night thing. I’ve had the chance to see Ex Machina in theaters twice now, which is more than I could have expected a few years ago. It was probably poor judgment on the part of a theater management that was placed in a stressful position, but I don’t think it speaks to the future of indie cinema. Just the future of that guy’s job…

Now, having said all that, if they are breaking their agreement with the distributors, that could put them in a world of trouble…

Seems to me you’re living in the past there, believing that somehow films in cinemas are ‘better’ and that films that don’t play cinemas are ‘dumped’. If you want to support independent cinema, don’t go to your multiplex, stick to DVD and VOD. That’s where the creativity and exciting stuff is, bypassing the big distributors. Ex Machina may be a good film but at $16 million that’s still very, very expensive for a British film. I could give you a list of 30 British horror features released this year – to VOD/DVD – some of which are stunningly good. And their total budgets combined wouldn’t come to 1% of Ex Machina’s budget. These films certainly are making back their budgets because their budgets are just a few thousand pounds, and they’re not having to give a cut to a distributor and an exhibitor.

So your sentiment is fine, and your opprobrium at that cinema is understandable, but the ‘little guy’ you’re standing up for is just a smaller version of the big guy, and the truly original, independent stuff you want you’re missing by dismissing non-theatrical distribution as a dumping ground.

“Ex Machina” was not released against “Age of Ultron.” It was released in early April and then expanded to more theaters weeks before “Age of Ultron.”

Uh oh. That indicates that permission was not asked. Sounds like someone is in for a “discussion”.

This article has been sent to the distributor, and they don’t seem very happy to hear about what happened.

Doesn’t matter if it was better for their bottom line, it’s still illegal. And really, I think the point of the article is, it’s unfortunate that the bottom line is the be all and end all for art.

It’s totally illegal.

Still sends an incredibly crappy message to their patrons. They also should’ve known how well Avengers 2 would do and booked enough houses in advance. But…Regal. Not entirely shocked to hear, sad to say.

Yea, I wasn’t going to leave without getting a refund and an extra ticket – which they gladly provided. So at least there’s that.

I bet if a theater took it upon themselves to cancel a showing of Avengers: Age of Ultron in order to screen Ex Machina instead it would be all over the news.