ARRI which still builds cameras in Germany is to close two factories as the ongoing retraction in filmmaking continues to bite.
The closure of the two facilities which produce ARRI lighting equipment (which by the way, is the best in the industry) will result in 150 job losses in Germany.
This is a real chance for Canon or Sony to save ARRI and in return be the dominant player in cinema.
If the company continues without a buyer, the future doesn’t look particularly bright – despite having the best sensor technology of any cinema camera company, and THE industry standard cinema camera with the Alexa 35.
What an amazing foothold in the market they have.
And yet, says ARRI this week:
“Like many companies in the film industry, Arri is undergoing a significant transformation to address lasting shifts in market demand while reinforcing its core strengths”
Source: Bloomberg: https://archive.ph/cOwK1
The problem is that high-end cinema is almost dead thanks to endless sequels, shitty multiplexes and a shift to streaming, the quality of filmmaking just hasn’t been there and the urge to leave the house has never been less.
The other problem is that the massive boom in streaming has also faltered and there’s now a glut of content, a total over supply of crap and the work has dried up at such an extent that it has rippled throughout the entire ecosystem – even going so far as to tanking the value of vintage glass on eBay!
Where once you couldn’t let a day pass without seeing 30 silly commercials on Sky TV shot with old anamorphic lenses, the bubbles and cinematic fashions have all seem to have gone away leaving just a general uninteresting slop in its place.
With the threat of Ai, it’s obvious that a further dramatic transformation of the commercial videography world will happen.
But as Nikon has shown with their purchase of RED, a company like ARRI would be an ideal target for Sony and can be an ongoing success story if only the 90 year old folk that run our favourite Japanese companies grew an imagination.
