The film
industry that was flourishing around the world with more and more movies,
earning more than a billion dollars at the box office, suffered a lot from the
COVID-19 outbreak that also affected many sectors especially ones linked to
entertainment. Lockdowns, regulations and fear of the virus in many countries
led to the slump in this industry as people were no longer allowed to go to theaters. This situation
increased the presence of the streaming market that earned a lot over the
period, as streaming became more influential than ever. However, it didn’t
compensate for the loss. Even though it is still too early to make a complete
analysis of the cinema industry since the pandemic, a few observations can be made regarding
the performance of this sector.
What
changed because of the pandemic in the industry :
2020 was a terrible year for the movie
industry, with estimated losses totaling at $5 billion at the US box-office. The highest-grossing movie earned
only $483 million compared to the $2.7 billion earned by Avengers: Endgame, the
biggest movie of 2019. A lot of movies got delayed to avoid any other loss,
leading to a decrease in the number of movies released by 66%
compared to 2019. The multiple lockdowns all over the world stopped cinemas’ activity and even though there is
not yet enough data about this, a lot of independent movie theaters and movie
productions reportedly went bankrupt during the period.
The rise of
streaming :
Streaming
platforms were the winners of that situation as people couldn’t go outdoors and
were then more disposed to using them. Major productions companies such as
Disney or Warner, which own streaming platforms, have limited their losses by
releasing movies directly on it. Other strategies used by those companies was
to release their movies simultaneously in movie theaters and streaming
platforms or reduce their time in theaters to release them afterwards on their
platforms.
Streaming
is changing customs and regulations :
In the US there is a 45-day window between the release of a movie in theaters and the release on a streaming platform. This regulation has been made so that there is no competition between those two means of distribution. However, this changed due to the coronavirus pandemic and it is nowadays possible to launch a movie in theaters and on streaming at the same time nowadays in the US. In France, a law forces companies to release their films on a very specific order and wait much longer than in the US with a 34-month wait between the theatrical release and the streaming one. Disney threatened to cancel its first release in cinemas and only launch films on its streaming platform to counter this regulation in order to maximize their profit during the pandemic.
The
controversy of such strategies :
This new
way of releasing movies is quite controversial. Many actors, movie directors and cinema owners criticized it.
Christopher Nolan, one of the current famous film directors decided to quit Warner to join Universal whose policy doesn't involve simultaneous release on streaming platforms and cinemas. This also raised the question of actors’ pay like the case between Scarlett
Johansson and Disney in which the actress implied that the company didn’t tell
her about the almost simultaneous release of Black Widow and thus didn’t pay her
accordingly. Disney’s Mulan movie with its release only on Disney+ at a cost of
$30 was also criticized.
The future
of the film industry :
The
COVID-19 outbreak is still out of control in the world. However, the progressive decrease in restrictions have allowed people to return to cinemas. Although the box-office isn’t the same as
the pre-COVID era, the success of theaters have led the major movie production companies to change their strategies. If the
situation gets any better, it is expected that the usual way of releasing
movies will return in 2022. Although the film industry will greatly change with
the streaming industry that will surely develop even more in the following
years, movie theaters aren’t a relic from the past and a profitable middle
ground will have to be found.
https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/etudes-et-rapports/statistiques/frequentation-cinematographique
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_cinema
https://www.digitalcenter.org/columns/movie-theaters-after-covid-1/
https://variety.com/2021/film/global/france-windowing-netflix-disney-1235064204/
Well done Ewann ! I like your report because I am a big fan of films too. Predictions say that we will probably have to coexist with Covid for a long time ahead. I wonder if you have any idea or suggestion of a possible feasible solution for theaters to survive in this difficult period ? And do you think that film stars should also take some responsibility to back up this industry ?
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