Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Film Industry Blog 6, Question 1 (March 23rd)
What has been the biggest impact of the pandemic on the U.S. film industry?
Do you think the pandemic will lead to long-term changes in the movie industry or
will Hollywood eventually return to pre-COVID practices? Limit: 6 responses
Austin Pappolla (1/2) In my opinion the biggest impact of the pandemic on the film industry comes through their ability to make a profit as well when they can release films they’ve made. The primary way these movies were making money was through box office sales. That has always been the case even with the rise of streaming services. That’s where the big bucks come from. To show an example, Box Office Mojo states that the number one grossing movie of 2020 was Bad Boys for Life. It clocked in at over 204 million dollars across nearly 3,800 theatres. This was the one and only film to reach the 200 million mark in 2020. What is even more telling is that this movie isn’t even the top 10 of grossing films from 2019 (Box Office Mojo). It goes to show how badly the pandemic has affected theatres and the film industry’s ability to profit from the box office sales. The top domestic grossing film went from close to 1 billion down to only 200 million in the span of one year. Despite streaming services coming in to save the film industry from completely falling flat, revenue was still on the decline. According to Pamela McClintock of the Hollywood Reporter, the film industry saw a near 4 billion dollar loss in revenue in 2020 compared to what they made the year before. The total theatrical and digital sales reached 32.2 billion. Revenue hit over 36 billion in 2019. Keep in mind that 2020 saw this disadvantage even with a 6.6 billion dollar increase in digital sales (McClintock). That is how valuable movie theatres are to the film industry.
Austin Pappolla (2/2) In the long term, I doubt Hollywood will make any major changes. The pandemic is not going to last forever. Once being out in the general public is deemed safe again, they will go back to their old ways of playing their films in theatres. Public safety hazards would have to last for years to come if this were to not be the case. There is too much money on the line and they know very well that this is the public’s preferred way to watch movies. Most people truly enjoy going out to the movies when its safe. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go back to having films release on streaming services after they have premiered in theatres. However, in the short term, I suspect that Hollywood will continue to make adjustments while the pandemic remains relevant in the world. The big action I predict the industry will take is continuing to delay big films. The biggest companies will absolutely hold on to their big projects until the time is right in order to maximize their profit off these huge movies which they put massive budgets into. Take Marvel’s Black Widow for example. Brandon Katz from observer.com states that this film was set to premiere in May 2020 (Katz). It has almost been one year since the original release date and it is still not out. Marvel Studios have taken notice of other big name films failing to generate a massive profit in the box office. Marvel Studios is all about releasing huge films that are among the top grossing in the world and right now that is simply not possible. Also, according to Katz, only about 40% of movie theatres across America were open as of last month (Katz). Marvel is hoping to release Black Widow in theatres this May. But it could see another pushback if vaccines aren’t distributed fast enough. Overall though, I don’t expect to see huge changes for the long-term in the film industry. Movie tickets are still their best means of profit. I suspect they’ll continue to make more innovations with streaming services to help maximize their earnings in the meantime, but it’s difficult to imagine theatres not being the main focus given their long history of success.
Katz, Brandon. “The Consequences of Yet Another ‘Black Widow’ Delay for the MCU.” Observer, 15 Feb. 2021, https://observer.com/2021/02/black-widow-release-date-change-delay-marvel-movies/#:~:text=After%20a%20one%20year%20delay,York%20City%20and%20Los%20Angele. Accessed 18 March. 2021.
McClintock, Pamela. "U.S. Box Office Fell 80 Percent in 2020 as Streaming Boomed." The Hollywood Reporter, 18 March. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/official-tally-u-s-box-office-fell-80-percent-in-2020-as-streaming-booms. Accessed 18 March. 2021.
Zeinab Dore The pandemic has had a really big impact on the US film industry in many different ways. Because of how everyone has been locked in their houses, with nowhere to go, the only entertainment source someone has is the streaming services. Most cinemas and movie theaters have been shutdown and this has made the box office lose billions of dollars. If we compare with 2019’s and 2020’s biggest movie’s box office is very eye opening on how much the pandemic has impacted the film industry. In 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time, domestic wise ($858 million) and at the global level ($2.8 billion). In 2020, it went all the way down to $204 million, with Bad Boys for Life (Box Office Mojo). And because of this major losses, movies that put in millions of dollars to make, and did not make enough because of the close of theaters, cannot recuperate these investments, which leads this to studios having the lack of new release opportunities, merchandising and sequels (Pamela). This also means thousands of people have lost their jobs in the theater business, which leads to bankruptcy (Brent). Another impact the pandemic had on the film industry is delaying or cancelling the release of new movies that had to come out. We have seen it with Tenet, which its release date was moved twice in a month. Delaying movies could amount to losing thousands of dollars in marketing fees. This is because promoting and advertising takes effort, time and money for the releases of movies. It contains everything from a 30 second television advertisement, billboards of big-budget, premieres on the Hollywood Boulevard, etc (Rebecca). Many movies like, A Quiet Place, Dune, Avatar 2, Black Widow, have all been delayed of at least a year (Vulture). I believe that due to the pandemic, the movie industry will not return to the pre-COVID practices. Even before the shut down of the theaters, streaming services had already begun to rise and being used by a big amount of people who used to go to the movies. The pandemic only accelerated this move, because these platforms were the only medium for people to get any type of entertainment. Although movie theaters have been opening slowly around the country, right now, it doesn’t look too good for their business because the pandemic is still very much alive and people do not really want to risk anything. However, the film industry can definitely find ways to regain the money lost. An option could be to reopen drive-in movies. I believe that could be really helpful and also a fun way to make people actually come out of their houses but in a safe and healthy way.
“Domestic Box Office For 2020.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
“Domestic Box Office For 2019.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2019/?ref_=bo_yl_table_3.
McClintock, Pamela. “Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters' Return to Normalcy.” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy.
Lang, Brent. “The Future of Movie Theaters In the Age of Coronavirus: A Dialogue.” Variety, Variety, 9 Oct. 2020, variety.com/2020/film/news/movie-theaters-cinemas-coronavirus-no-time-to-die-covid-1234796779/.
Rubin, Rebecca. “Studios Keep Delaying Movies. What's the Cost?” Variety, Variety, 2 July 2020, variety.com/2020/film/box-office/tenet-mulan-delay-financial-cost-1234693356/.
Editors, Vulture. “Here Are All the Movies Delayed Because of the Coronavirus.” Vulture, Vulture, 5 Mar. 2021, www.vulture.com/2021/03/here-are-all-the-movies-and-tv-shows-affected-by-coronavirus.html.
The most significant impact to the film industry during the pandemic is theaters closing. Due to stay-at-home orders, everything across the U.S. was closing, and unfortunately, many businesses didn’t open back up. What makes matters worse is the constant back and forth of opening movie theaters back up. Many fear that moviegoers will be eating and drinking during the film, and by removing their masks, they may keep the mask off. Even if the masks are off briefly, that’s still ample time throughout the film exposed (Lang).
Another factor in the decline of movie theaters is streaming services. With Disney+ releasing Mulan with an additional purchase, they could still make money from the movie. Brent Lang from Variety mentioned how people took to Twitter to state how streaming has won. As great as this may seem, it’s terrible. Tons of jobs are on the line resulting in movie theaters closing, not to mention the cultural and economic impact. What continues to feed into the streaming vs. movie theater war is the streaming services that choose to release their films on the streaming service instead of in theaters. Although deals are struck to find a happy medium for both parties at hand, it’s still very up in the air. For example, Zack Snyder’s Justice League has been released today. The way to access it is solely on HBO Max to stream. After looking into some research on whether or not any theater releases will happen, Snyder said he does hope for a theatrical release. As far as Warner Bros., there hasn’t been an announcement to promote a theatrical release (Chitwood). I think it’s a more innovative approach to wait on a release because you already can anticipate how many people may go from the film reviews. Second, if there was a way to purchase tickets in advance, I think it could benefit movie theaters not to exhaust their resources. Overall, it can be a great tactic to have pre-purchased tickets weeks before the film, ensuring there are enough seats and preventing movie theaters from having one person in one show.
I don’t foresee everything going back to pre-COVID practices after our world has been completely flipped upside down. We’ve been creating tactics and ways to adapt to our new norm and have seen these changes in the film industry. Cinemark theaters all follow their COVID-19 protocols titled “The Cinemark Standard.” Sanitizing high traffic areas, restrooms, disinfecting theaters after each use, contactless payments, and even improving the air quality in three separate ways are just a small list of the ways theaters have improved upon opening (Cinemark). If we continue to stay accountable and think of ways to continue improving our way of life, we can go back to some of our pre-COVID activities, with a new twist to them.
Chitwood, A. (2021, March 17). How to watch The Snyder cut - what time does it debut on HBO MAX? Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://collider.com/how-to-watch-snyder-cut-zack-snyders-justice-league-online-streaming/
Cinemark. (n.d.). The Cinemark Standard. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.cinemark.com/cinemark-standard
Lang, B. (2020, October 09). The future of movie theaters in the age Of Coronavirus: A dialogue. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://variety.com/2020/film/news/movie-theaters-cinemas-coronavirus-no-time-to-die-covid-1234796779/
There have been many different ways the U.S. film industry has been impacted due to the pandemic. One of the biggest concerns would be movie theatres, since most closed temporarily and or permanently it has decreased revenue for the film industry. This has led to major studios having to sell their smaller titles to streamers who are looking to put in new content because of the majority of streaming movies that are being watched. Within Hollywood, COVID impacted the way actors and actresses are to film, to practice the international COVID-19 guidelines. It is difficult to act when having to practice social distancing, using masks, and possibly having to quarantine, which causes the movie production to be much longer than usual.
The closing of theatres and the longer production time all due to COVID have caused the film industry to work with streaming companies to generate revenue differently. Whether it is selling their smaller titles or selling them the premiere release of the movie on their streaming site. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Throughout the pandemic, many of the major studios have sold off smaller and mid-range titles to streamers hungry for content and happy to pay top dollar” (McClintock, 2021)... leading the streaming companies to produce more content at a desperate range since so many people are now watching, only due to the pandemic. This will affect the relationships between major studios and streaming companies now that movie theaters are closing and there are not many places for movies to be displayed since most people are on streaming sites rather than on-demand.
Actors and actresses need to practice COVID-19 guidelines even while filming in the studios. This led to a lot of movie productions having to delay their release times due to someone possibly being exposed onset, and possibly having to close the entire set for two weeks to quarantine properly. Hopefully once a large number of people start to receive the vaccine the entire film industry will benefit through the filmmaking side and the viewers will benefit by watching the new film releases.
Within the two articles, I read both seem to think there will be a positive ending towards this heavy impact on the movie industry. The LA Times and another article from The Hollywood Reporter both said “As vaccines have rolled out around the world, many film executives and theater operators have been predicting — hoping, praying — that a huge surge of ticket buying awaits'' (Barnes, 2021), thinking of positive possibilities than can benefit the movie industry with much hope. Whereas The Hollywood Reporter says “‘As theaters in these key markets begin to reopen and the virus is more contained, we expect the volume of new film content will accelerate,’ Zoradi predicted” (Szalai, 2021), with another prediction that this will all be okay by Fall 2021 or possibly even the late summer. These positive thoughts and predictions will lead the movie industry to become back to normal allowing movie productions and consumers to go right back on track like they were pre-pandemic.
When it comes to the pandemic leading to long-term changes in the movie industry, I personally think we still need to take everything day by day, but there should still be hygienic practices in place overall after this pandemic. Whether it is over sanitizing, consecutively cleaning certain things, and continuing to wash hands those practices need to be continued. When following the right guidelines and possibly getting a majority vaccinated I can see Hollywood eventually returning to pre-COVID practices like not social distancing.
Work Cited
Barnes, Brooks. “After Pandemic, Film Industry's Hollywood Ending May Have to Wait.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/business/box-office-hollywood-pandemic.html. McClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy
Szalai, Georg. "Studio Profit Report: Netflix Reigns, Paramount and Sony Gain." The Hollywood Reporter 5 March 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studio-profit-report-netflix-reigns-paramount-and-sony-gain
Barnes, Brooks. “After Pandemic, Film Industry's Hollywood Ending May Have to Wait.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/business/box-office-hollywood-pandemic.html.
McClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy
Szalai, Georg. "Studio Profit Report: Netflix Reigns, Paramount and Sony Gain." The Hollywood Reporter 5 March 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studio-profit-report-netflix-reigns-paramount-and-sony-gain
The biggest impact made on the film industry during COVID-19 is, obviously, movie theaters being shut down. This became a catalyst and jump-starter of the streaming industry. Before the pandemic, many simply wondered how streaming one day might affect films. Now that box office numbers are released and we can compare the years, we can see the direct change. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the “U.S. box office fell 80% in 2020 as streaming boomed” (McClintock). Of course, people were restricted from going to the theaters, so this was expected. But now that a huge portion of the population has signed onto more streaming services, we are left to question: is this change permanent?
Many experts seem to think so. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed cinema professor Jason Squire in the article “2020’s Big Plot Twist: How ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Came to Upend Hollywood’s Future”. “This is the most serious,” said Squire when talking about HBO Max’s and Warner Brother’s deal that was struck in late 2020. “This is the worst threat to moviegoing since the business began.”
This deal refers to Warner Bros. releasing all their films that were anticipated for 2020/2021 onto HBO Max for a month. Such titles include “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Wonder Woman 1984”, and “Little Things”. Movie theaters like Cinemark and AMC have already hit back, suggesting they may only play a handful of Warner Bros. pictures in the future.
For production companies, it made the most sense at the moment. Restrictions are still in place, and because it’s cheaper for companies to make it stream rather than put it in theaters, it seems the pandemic ushered in the beginning of the end of theaters. However, I believe there is still hope. First, the movie ‘Tom and Jerry’ apparently “blew away any forecasts and expectations” (Jenkins) according to Shawn Robbins, who is the chief analyst at Box Office Pro. Other movies that opened in the pandemic were only making $4 million in its first weekend, while “Tom and Jerry” made $17 million.
It’s also important to look at other countries that are facing the same problem. The Ringer reported on China’s moviegoing habits now that the country is back to normal. According to the article, “The time-travel comedy ‘Hi, Mom’ eclipsed more than $700 million at the box office by the end of February just three weeks after its theatrical release. That puts it in in the company of ‘Black Panther and James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’” (Jenkins). And while it may be hard to compare two countries with different cultures, we do share something in common: a love for movies. The United States and China are the main target audience when it comes to producing blockbusters.
Sources Jenkins, Aric. “Maybe Everyone Wants to Go Back to Movie Theaters After All?” The Ringer, The Ringer, 9 Mar. 2021, www.theringer.com/movies/2021/3/9/22320223/movie-theaters-reopening-china-box-office-records.
Keegan, Rebecca et al. "2020's Big Plot Twist: How 'Wonder Woman 1984' Came to Upend Hollywood's Future." The Hollywood Reporter 16 December 2020. McClintock, Pamela. "U.S. Box Office Fell 80 Percent in 2020 as Streaming Boomed." The Hollywood Reporter 18 March 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/official-tally-u-s-box-office-fell-80-percent-in-2020-as-streaming-booms
The biggest impact the pandemic has had on the film industry is how movies are distributed to the public. The pandemic led to this experimental period where many movie studios began using streaming services to release some of their new content with movie theaters all across the country closing down. In the article “WarnerMedia Chief Jason Kilar Says Movie Biz Still in ‘Experimentation Mode’ on Theatrical Windows,” WarnerMedia CEO talked about what the pandemic has allowed some of these major movie studios to do. In the article he says“I think we’re still in the experimentation mode” on theatrical/streaming movie release windows, said Kilar, speaking Thursday at the 2021 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.”(Spangler) Warner Brothers and Disney have used or will use their streaming platforms to release their new movies for the public to view. According to the article “In Major Break from Tradition, Warner Bros. Moves to Debut All Its 2021 Movies Simultaneously on HBO Max and In Theaters,” it said that “Pandemic restrictions have certainly taken a heavy toll on theatrical movies. Some studios have chosen to put individual movies on digital platforms during shutdowns. Disney is about to debut Pixar’s “Soul” on Disney Plus, while Warner Bros. will soon bring “Wonder Woman 1984” to HBO Max at the same time as it will theaters.”(Zeitchick) I think this will be a long term change to the movie industry because I think some people are going to still be cautious when being in public even after the pandemic. I feel as though some studios may continue to simultaneously release their new movies in theaters as well as on their streaming platforms because it may be convenient for those who would feel safer watching the new releases from the comforts of their own home rather than gathering in a large theater. However, I believe that movie theaters will make a comeback once more people get the vaccine and business hopefully open up.
Movie theaters are a major component in movie studios to make money off the new films they make and without them some movies may not make a lot of money. According to the article “Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy,” it says that “opening movies while so many cinemas are still shut is “great for headlines, but not for the bottom line,” noting how poorly Wonder Woman 1984 did. Adds one financier, “The major studios have realized there is no point in trying to release their product right now.”(McClintock) This explains that some movies really rely upon movie theater viewership in order for them to be successful at the box office and without that source of revenue they suffer. Personally, I want to see newly released movies in theaters. I think it is the traditional way for people to go see new movies when they come out. I am supposedly going to see Godzilla vs Kong in theaters when I go home next week and I would much rather see that movie on the big screen as opposed to having to pay for HBO Max just to watch that one movie. I also think there are plenty of people who are itching for a return to normalcy that they are looking for any way to get back to how things were before Covid-19.
Works Cited McClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021
Spangler, Todd. "WarnerMedia Chief Jason Kilar Says Movie Biz Still in ‘Experimentation Mode’ on Theatrical Windows." Variety
Zeitchick, Steven. "In Major Break from Tradition, Warner Bros. Moves to Debut All Its 2021 Movies Simultaneously on HBO Max and In Theaters." Washington Post 3 December 2020
Austin Pappolla (1/2)
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the biggest impact of the pandemic on the film industry comes through their ability to make a profit as well when they can release films they’ve made. The primary way these movies were making money was through box office sales. That has always been the case even with the rise of streaming services. That’s where the big bucks come from. To show an example, Box Office Mojo states that the number one grossing movie of 2020 was Bad Boys for Life. It clocked in at over 204 million dollars across nearly 3,800 theatres. This was the one and only film to reach the 200 million mark in 2020. What is even more telling is that this movie isn’t even the top 10 of grossing films from 2019 (Box Office Mojo). It goes to show how badly the pandemic has affected theatres and the film industry’s ability to profit from the box office sales. The top domestic grossing film went from close to 1 billion down to only 200 million in the span of one year. Despite streaming services coming in to save the film industry from completely falling flat, revenue was still on the decline. According to Pamela McClintock of the Hollywood Reporter, the film industry saw a near 4 billion dollar loss in revenue in 2020 compared to what they made the year before. The total theatrical and digital sales reached 32.2 billion. Revenue hit over 36 billion in 2019. Keep in mind that 2020 saw this disadvantage even with a 6.6 billion dollar increase in digital sales (McClintock). That is how valuable movie theatres are to the film industry.
Austin Pappolla (2/2)
ReplyDeleteIn the long term, I doubt Hollywood will make any major changes. The pandemic is not going to last forever. Once being out in the general public is deemed safe again, they will go back to their old ways of playing their films in theatres. Public safety hazards would have to last for years to come if this were to not be the case. There is too much money on the line and they know very well that this is the public’s preferred way to watch movies. Most people truly enjoy going out to the movies when its safe. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go back to having films release on streaming services after they have premiered in theatres. However, in the short term, I suspect that Hollywood will continue to make adjustments while the pandemic remains relevant in the world. The big action I predict the industry will take is continuing to delay big films. The biggest companies will absolutely hold on to their big projects until the time is right in order to maximize their profit off these huge movies which they put massive budgets into. Take Marvel’s Black Widow for example. Brandon Katz from observer.com states that this film was set to premiere in May 2020 (Katz). It has almost been one year since the original release date and it is still not out. Marvel Studios have taken notice of other big name films failing to generate a massive profit in the box office. Marvel Studios is all about releasing huge films that are among the top grossing in the world and right now that is simply not possible. Also, according to Katz, only about 40% of movie theatres across America were open as of last month (Katz). Marvel is hoping to release Black Widow in theatres this May. But it could see another pushback if vaccines aren’t distributed fast enough. Overall though, I don’t expect to see huge changes for the long-term in the film industry. Movie tickets are still their best means of profit. I suspect they’ll continue to make more innovations with streaming services to help maximize their earnings in the meantime, but it’s difficult to imagine theatres not being the main focus given their long history of success.
Works Cited
Box Office Mojo. “Domestic Box Office For 2020.” IMDB, 2021, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses. Accessed 18 March. 2021.
Katz, Brandon. “The Consequences of Yet Another ‘Black Widow’ Delay for the MCU.” Observer, 15 Feb. 2021, https://observer.com/2021/02/black-widow-release-date-change-delay-marvel-movies/#:~:text=After%20a%20one%20year%20delay,York%20City%20and%20Los%20Angele. Accessed 18 March. 2021.
McClintock, Pamela. "U.S. Box Office Fell 80 Percent in 2020 as Streaming Boomed." The Hollywood Reporter, 18 March. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/official-tally-u-s-box-office-fell-80-percent-in-2020-as-streaming-booms. Accessed 18 March. 2021.
Zeinab Dore
ReplyDeleteThe pandemic has had a really big impact on the US film industry in many different ways. Because of how everyone has been locked in their houses, with nowhere to go, the only entertainment source someone has is the streaming services. Most cinemas and movie theaters have been shutdown and this has made the box office lose billions of dollars. If we compare with 2019’s and 2020’s biggest movie’s box office is very eye opening on how much the pandemic has impacted the film industry. In 2019, Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time, domestic wise ($858 million) and at the global level ($2.8 billion). In 2020, it went all the way down to $204 million, with Bad Boys for Life (Box Office Mojo). And because of this major losses, movies that put in millions of dollars to make, and did not make enough because of the close of theaters, cannot recuperate these investments, which leads this to studios having the lack of new release opportunities, merchandising and sequels (Pamela). This also means thousands of people have lost their jobs in the theater business, which leads to bankruptcy (Brent).
Another impact the pandemic had on the film industry is delaying or cancelling the release of new movies that had to come out. We have seen it with Tenet, which its release date was moved twice in a month. Delaying movies could amount to losing thousands of dollars in marketing fees. This is because promoting and advertising takes effort, time and money for the releases of movies. It contains everything from a 30 second television advertisement, billboards of big-budget, premieres on the Hollywood Boulevard, etc (Rebecca). Many movies like, A Quiet Place, Dune, Avatar 2, Black Widow, have all been delayed of at least a year (Vulture).
I believe that due to the pandemic, the movie industry will not return to the pre-COVID practices. Even before the shut down of the theaters, streaming services had already begun to rise and being used by a big amount of people who used to go to the movies. The pandemic only accelerated this move, because these platforms were the only medium for people to get any type of entertainment. Although movie theaters have been opening slowly around the country, right now, it doesn’t look too good for their business because the pandemic is still very much alive and people do not really want to risk anything.
However, the film industry can definitely find ways to regain the money lost. An option could be to reopen drive-in movies. I believe that could be really helpful and also a fun way to make people actually come out of their houses but in a safe and healthy way.
“Domestic Box Office For 2020.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2020/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses.
Delete“Domestic Box Office For 2019.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2019/?ref_=bo_yl_table_3.
McClintock, Pamela. “Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters' Return to Normalcy.” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy.
Lang, Brent. “The Future of Movie Theaters In the Age of Coronavirus: A Dialogue.” Variety, Variety, 9 Oct. 2020, variety.com/2020/film/news/movie-theaters-cinemas-coronavirus-no-time-to-die-covid-1234796779/.
Rubin, Rebecca. “Studios Keep Delaying Movies. What's the Cost?” Variety, Variety, 2 July 2020, variety.com/2020/film/box-office/tenet-mulan-delay-financial-cost-1234693356/.
Editors, Vulture. “Here Are All the Movies Delayed Because of the Coronavirus.” Vulture, Vulture, 5 Mar. 2021, www.vulture.com/2021/03/here-are-all-the-movies-and-tv-shows-affected-by-coronavirus.html.
The most significant impact to the film industry during the pandemic is theaters closing. Due to stay-at-home orders, everything across the U.S. was closing, and unfortunately, many businesses didn’t open back up. What makes matters worse is the constant back and forth of opening movie theaters back up. Many fear that moviegoers will be eating and drinking during the film, and by removing their masks, they may keep the mask off. Even if the masks are off briefly, that’s still ample time throughout the film exposed (Lang).
ReplyDeleteAnother factor in the decline of movie theaters is streaming services. With Disney+ releasing Mulan with an additional purchase, they could still make money from the movie. Brent Lang from Variety mentioned how people took to Twitter to state how streaming has won. As great as this may seem, it’s terrible. Tons of jobs are on the line resulting in movie theaters closing, not to mention the cultural and economic impact. What continues to feed into the streaming vs. movie theater war is the streaming services that choose to release their films on the streaming service instead of in theaters. Although deals are struck to find a happy medium for both parties at hand, it’s still very up in the air. For example, Zack Snyder’s Justice League has been released today. The way to access it is solely on HBO Max to stream. After looking into some research on whether or not any theater releases will happen, Snyder said he does hope for a theatrical release. As far as Warner Bros., there hasn’t been an announcement to promote a theatrical release (Chitwood). I think it’s a more innovative approach to wait on a release because you already can anticipate how many people may go from the film reviews. Second, if there was a way to purchase tickets in advance, I think it could benefit movie theaters not to exhaust their resources. Overall, it can be a great tactic to have pre-purchased tickets weeks before the film, ensuring there are enough seats and preventing movie theaters from having one person in one show.
I don’t foresee everything going back to pre-COVID practices after our world has been completely flipped upside down. We’ve been creating tactics and ways to adapt to our new norm and have seen these changes in the film industry. Cinemark theaters all follow their COVID-19 protocols titled “The Cinemark Standard.” Sanitizing high traffic areas, restrooms, disinfecting theaters after each use, contactless payments, and even improving the air quality in three separate ways are just a small list of the ways theaters have improved upon opening (Cinemark). If we continue to stay accountable and think of ways to continue improving our way of life, we can go back to some of our pre-COVID activities, with a new twist to them.
Works Cited
DeleteChitwood, A. (2021, March 17). How to watch The Snyder cut - what time does it debut on HBO MAX? Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://collider.com/how-to-watch-snyder-cut-zack-snyders-justice-league-online-streaming/
Cinemark. (n.d.). The Cinemark Standard. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.cinemark.com/cinemark-standard
Lang, B. (2020, October 09). The future of movie theaters in the age Of Coronavirus: A dialogue. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://variety.com/2020/film/news/movie-theaters-cinemas-coronavirus-no-time-to-die-covid-1234796779/
Rachel Feliciano
ReplyDeleteDr. Burns
MSS-495
March 18, 2021
Media Blog 6 (1/2)
There have been many different ways the U.S. film industry has been impacted due to the pandemic. One of the biggest concerns would be movie theatres, since most closed temporarily and or permanently it has decreased revenue for the film industry. This has led to major studios having to sell their smaller titles to streamers who are looking to put in new content because of the majority of streaming movies that are being watched. Within Hollywood, COVID impacted the way actors and actresses are to film, to practice the international COVID-19 guidelines. It is difficult to act when having to practice social distancing, using masks, and possibly having to quarantine, which causes the movie production to be much longer than usual.
The closing of theatres and the longer production time all due to COVID have caused the film industry to work with streaming companies to generate revenue differently. Whether it is selling their smaller titles or selling them the premiere release of the movie on their streaming site. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Throughout the pandemic, many of the major studios have sold off smaller and mid-range titles to streamers hungry for content and happy to pay top dollar” (McClintock, 2021)... leading the streaming companies to produce more content at a desperate range since so many people are now watching, only due to the pandemic. This will affect the relationships between major studios and streaming companies now that movie theaters are closing and there are not many places for movies to be displayed since most people are on streaming sites rather than on-demand.
Media Blog 6 (2/2)
ReplyDeleteActors and actresses need to practice COVID-19 guidelines even while filming in the studios. This led to a lot of movie productions having to delay their release times due to someone possibly being exposed onset, and possibly having to close the entire set for two weeks to quarantine properly. Hopefully once a large number of people start to receive the vaccine the entire film industry will benefit through the filmmaking side and the viewers will benefit by watching the new film releases.
Within the two articles, I read both seem to think there will be a positive ending towards this heavy impact on the movie industry. The LA Times and another article from The Hollywood Reporter both said “As vaccines have rolled out around the world, many film executives and theater operators have been predicting — hoping, praying — that a huge surge of ticket buying awaits'' (Barnes, 2021), thinking of positive possibilities than can benefit the movie industry with much hope. Whereas The Hollywood Reporter says “‘As theaters in these key markets begin to reopen and the virus is more contained, we expect the volume of new film content will accelerate,’ Zoradi predicted” (Szalai, 2021), with another prediction that this will all be okay by Fall 2021 or possibly even the late summer. These positive thoughts and predictions will lead the movie industry to become back to normal allowing movie productions and consumers to go right back on track like they were pre-pandemic.
When it comes to the pandemic leading to long-term changes in the movie industry, I personally think we still need to take everything day by day, but there should still be hygienic practices in place overall after this pandemic. Whether it is over sanitizing, consecutively cleaning certain things, and continuing to wash hands those practices need to be continued. When following the right guidelines and possibly getting a majority vaccinated I can see Hollywood eventually returning to pre-COVID practices like not social distancing.
Work Cited
Barnes, Brooks. “After Pandemic, Film Industry's Hollywood Ending May Have to Wait.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/business/box-office-hollywood-pandemic.html.
McClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021,
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy
Szalai, Georg. "Studio Profit Report: Netflix Reigns, Paramount and Sony Gain." The Hollywood Reporter 5 March 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studio-profit-report-netflix-reigns-paramount-and-sony-gain
Barnes, Brooks. “After Pandemic, Film Industry's Hollywood Ending May Have to Wait.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/business/box-office-hollywood-pandemic.html.
DeleteMcClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021,
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studios-hold-out-hope-for-theaters-return-to-normalcy
Szalai, Georg. "Studio Profit Report: Netflix Reigns, Paramount and Sony Gain." The Hollywood Reporter 5 March 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/studio-profit-report-netflix-reigns-paramount-and-sony-gain
The biggest impact made on the film industry during COVID-19 is, obviously, movie theaters being shut down. This became a catalyst and jump-starter of the streaming industry. Before the pandemic, many simply wondered how streaming one day might affect films. Now that box office numbers are released and we can compare the years, we can see the direct change. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the “U.S. box office fell 80% in 2020 as streaming boomed” (McClintock). Of course, people were restricted from going to the theaters, so this was expected. But now that a huge portion of the population has signed onto more streaming services, we are left to question: is this change permanent?
ReplyDeleteMany experts seem to think so. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed cinema professor Jason Squire in the article “2020’s Big Plot Twist: How ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Came to Upend Hollywood’s Future”. “This is the most serious,” said Squire when talking about HBO Max’s and Warner Brother’s deal that was struck in late 2020. “This is the worst threat to moviegoing since the business began.”
This deal refers to Warner Bros. releasing all their films that were anticipated for 2020/2021 onto HBO Max for a month. Such titles include “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Wonder Woman 1984”, and “Little Things”. Movie theaters like Cinemark and AMC have already hit back, suggesting they may only play a handful of Warner Bros. pictures in the future.
For production companies, it made the most sense at the moment. Restrictions are still in place, and because it’s cheaper for companies to make it stream rather than put it in theaters, it seems the pandemic ushered in the beginning of the end of theaters. However, I believe there is still hope. First, the movie ‘Tom and Jerry’ apparently “blew away any forecasts and expectations” (Jenkins) according to Shawn Robbins, who is the chief analyst at Box Office Pro. Other movies that opened in the pandemic were only making $4 million in its first weekend, while “Tom and Jerry” made $17 million.
It’s also important to look at other countries that are facing the same problem. The Ringer reported on China’s moviegoing habits now that the country is back to normal. According to the article, “The time-travel comedy ‘Hi, Mom’ eclipsed more than $700 million at the box office by the end of February just three weeks after its theatrical release. That puts it in in the company of ‘Black Panther and James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’” (Jenkins). And while it may be hard to compare two countries with different cultures, we do share something in common: a love for movies. The United States and China are the main target audience when it comes to producing blockbusters.
Sources
Jenkins, Aric. “Maybe Everyone Wants to Go Back to Movie Theaters After All?” The Ringer, The Ringer, 9 Mar. 2021, www.theringer.com/movies/2021/3/9/22320223/movie-theaters-reopening-china-box-office-records.
Keegan, Rebecca et al. "2020's Big Plot Twist: How 'Wonder Woman 1984' Came to Upend Hollywood's Future." The Hollywood Reporter 16 December 2020.
McClintock, Pamela. "U.S. Box Office Fell 80 Percent in 2020 as Streaming Boomed." The Hollywood Reporter 18 March 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/official-tally-u-s-box-office-fell-80-percent-in-2020-as-streaming-booms
Kenneth Gruenfelder
ReplyDeleteThe biggest impact the pandemic has had on the film industry is how movies are distributed to the public. The pandemic led to this experimental period where many movie studios began using streaming services to release some of their new content with movie theaters all across the country closing down. In the article “WarnerMedia Chief Jason Kilar Says Movie Biz Still in ‘Experimentation Mode’ on Theatrical Windows,” WarnerMedia CEO talked about what the pandemic has allowed some of these major movie studios to do. In the article he says“I think we’re still in the experimentation mode” on theatrical/streaming movie release windows, said Kilar, speaking Thursday at the 2021 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.”(Spangler) Warner Brothers and Disney have used or will use their streaming platforms to release their new movies for the public to view. According to the article “In Major Break from Tradition, Warner Bros. Moves to Debut All Its 2021 Movies Simultaneously on HBO Max and In Theaters,” it said that “Pandemic restrictions have certainly taken a heavy toll on theatrical movies. Some studios have chosen to put individual movies on digital platforms during shutdowns. Disney is about to debut Pixar’s “Soul” on Disney Plus, while Warner Bros. will soon bring “Wonder Woman 1984” to HBO Max at the same time as it will theaters.”(Zeitchick) I think this will be a long term change to the movie industry because I think some people are going to still be cautious when being in public even after the pandemic. I feel as though some studios may continue to simultaneously release their new movies in theaters as well as on their streaming platforms because it may be convenient for those who would feel safer watching the new releases from the comforts of their own home rather than gathering in a large theater. However, I believe that movie theaters will make a comeback once more people get the vaccine and business hopefully open up.
Movie theaters are a major component in movie studios to make money off the new films they make and without them some movies may not make a lot of money. According to the article “Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy,” it says that “opening movies while so many cinemas are still shut is “great for headlines, but not for the bottom line,” noting how poorly Wonder Woman 1984 did. Adds one financier, “The major studios have realized there is no point in trying to release their product right now.”(McClintock) This explains that some movies really rely upon movie theater viewership in order for them to be successful at the box office and without that source of revenue they suffer. Personally, I want to see newly released movies in theaters. I think it is the traditional way for people to go see new movies when they come out. I am supposedly going to see Godzilla vs Kong in theaters when I go home next week and I would much rather see that movie on the big screen as opposed to having to pay for HBO Max just to watch that one movie. I also think there are plenty of people who are itching for a return to normalcy that they are looking for any way to get back to how things were before Covid-19.
DeleteWorks Cited
McClintock, Pamela. "Studios Hold Out Hope for Theaters’ Return to Normalcy." The Hollywood Reporter 27 January 2021
Spangler, Todd. "WarnerMedia Chief Jason Kilar Says Movie Biz Still in ‘Experimentation Mode’ on Theatrical Windows." Variety
Zeitchick, Steven. "In Major Break from Tradition, Warner Bros. Moves to Debut All Its 2021 Movies Simultaneously on HBO Max and In Theaters." Washington Post 3 December 2020
Kenneth Gruenfelder ^
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