Paramount and UK Cinemas Advance Accessibility with Widespread Captioned Screenings
A significant initiative led by Paramount is enhancing the cinema experience for audiences who are deaf or have hearing loss across the United Kingdom. The film studio is placing accessibility at the forefront by ensuring the first UK previews for its slate of upcoming blockbusters are captioned.
The move applied to Paramount's major recent releases, including Transformers One, Smile 2, Gladiator II, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, September 5, and Novocaine. This commitment means that the very first opportunity for audiences to see these films was an accessible one.
Major UK cinema chains, including Cineworld, Showcase, and Vue, have thrown their support behind the initiative. Taking the effort a step further, they also committed to providing a captioned screening of the latest Mission: Impossible film every day for the first nine days of its release.
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A New Standard for Advertising
A critical component of this accessibility drive has been the development of a fully captioned advertising reel to accompany the films. Digital Cinema Media (DCM) engineered a new process to ensure the ads shown before captioned screenings are also accessible.
Rather than recruiting brands to participate, DCM took a firm stance by requiring all brands booked into the Mission: Impossible 8 Film Pack to supply a captioned version of their advertisement. Brands that did not provide a captioned copy would be excluded from the ad reel in the captioned showings. This "opt-out" approach proved overwhelmingly successful, with only one brand declining to participate.
This change was the culmination of a two-year effort behind the scenes. DCM collaborated with the UK’s leading point-of-sale ticketing companies to ensure cinemas had the technical capability to "flag" a screening as captioned. Working with cinema partners, DCM gathered data on how each exhibitor identified these screenings (e.g., using the code 'CAP') and integrated this information into its core operating model. This system allows DCM to automatically send captioned ad versions to the correct screenings, while non-captioned versions run as normal in other showings.
The strategy was a bold one, requiring extensive conversations with creative agencies, clients, and media agencies. The persuasive argument was clear: the deaf and hard-of-hearing community may not connect with an advertisement if its message is not made fully accessible.
Industry leaders have lauded the move. "It takes very little additional effort to supply subtitles alongside your ad, but the impact for those who are registered deaf or hard of hearing is huge," said Ben O'Callaghan, Senior Associate Director at Kindred. "We’re proud to be part of this industry-first moment and hope it’s the first of many that makes the experience of attending a screening equitable for all cinemagoers.”
Jenn Sanders, Senior Post Producer at CYLNDR, added, “I think it is extremely important for everyone to be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of going to the cinema. I would like to think, moving forward, delivering a closed caption asset will become the standard and delivered alongside the advert without captions.”
Looking Ahead
While the current focus is on captioning, this successful case study establishes a new benchmark for the industry. It is expected to make future pushes for captioned advertising copy significantly easier. The initiative marks a pivotal step toward a more inclusive and accessible cinema environment for all UK audiences.