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Martin Scorsese did not include an intermission in his 206-minute epic, "Killers Of The Flower Moon" But
that hasn’t stopped a handful of movie theaters around the world from inserting one themselves, with
intervals ranging from between six minutes and 15 minutes.
As of Friday morning, two European cinema chains and one independent theater in Amsterdam sold tickets to
screenings of “Killers of the Flower Moon” with a built-in break. A spokesperson for UCI Cinemas, an exhibition
chain with venues in Germany, Italy, Portugal and Brazil, confirmed that all of its nearly 80 theaters — with the
exception of Imax™ screens in Porta di Roma, Orio, and Campi Bisenzio — had included a “six-minute interval
towards the middle of the film.”
The Vue, a U.K.-based theater chain, and an Amsterdam cinema called The Movies Haarlemmerdijk also were
offering showings with a break, according to their websites.
Domestically, The Lyric, a theater in Fort Collins, Colo., showed the historical drama with an intermission until
Oct. 26. However, they did away with the intermission after getting in trouble with Paramount the film’s distributor,
and Apple Original Films, its producer. The companies have been contacting theaters that have violated their
contract by splitting up the film and telling them to show “Killers of the Flower Moon” as intended, according
to an individual with knowledge of the situation.
To be clear, only a smattering of venues out of the roughly 10,000 globally that are screening “Killers of the
Flower Moon” have included an intermission, but it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Thelma Schoonmaker, the editor
of the film and longtime collaborator with Scorsese, told The Standard, “I understand that somebody’s running
it with an intermission which is not right. That’s a violation so I have to find out about it.”
While Scorsese has not directly addressed the intermission (or lack thereof), he defended the long runtime of
“Killers of the Flower Moon” in an interview with the Hindustan Times, saying, “People say it’s three hours,
but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours.”
Other analysts agree with Scorsese’s position. “If Scorsese didn’t intend for there to be an intermission, I think
that should be at least the primary way people can see it,” says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro.
“That being said, it was a long movie. And I think if there is enough demand out there, and especially if it means
a difference in helping someone make the decision to go and buy a ticket, rather than not go see the movie,
then maybe there’s an economical and practical argument for at least a limited option.”
Original Story Link ☞ https://tinyurl.com/5cr6fnkb
> My 2¢ opinion is that I basically agree that the film should be shown as the director and editor
intended. . . however, theaters ought to be able to do one show a day or perhaps one during the
week, with an intermission for patrons who would feel more comfortable having one. The venue
I work for has a "sensory" showing of each movie once a week where the sound is played at a
lower level, and the houselights are left partly up. Another theater I worked at did something
similar where once a month they had a "baby-mama's" showing of a current popular movie,
where they did the same thing ~ lights set a bit more than ½-way up, & reduced sound volume.
In-auditorium breast feeding was allowed, and a local merchant of infant accessories, baby
clothes, and other infantile supplies handed out towels, wet naps, pacifiers and other 'stuff
to people with infants. They even supplied free disposable diapers for those wbo needed them.
(For the kids- not the adults!- - but I suppose some older folks might need them during a 3hr flick)
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