As we are close to the year ending & cases for Covid-19 being a bit of a neutral state not too high or low, I have been seeing an uptick in the Film industry. 2020 either decimated a film’s chances at financial success, delayed films for months to nearly 2 years, or films experimented with some form of a streaming release.
2021 saw vast improvements.
Hollywood films managed to do better the previous year. The highest-grossing film distribution from an American film division is F9, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is so far the biggest Domestic earner, and as of this writing, Godzilla vs. Kong is the highest-grossing film that had a streaming release at the same time as a Theatrical release. Of course, other films such as 007: No Time To Die & Dune have been seeing a significant overseas jump compared to how they are doing in North America.
It has led a lot of people to believe that movie theaters are back & we can return to the status quo. There is one problem with that. While Blockbusters have made a comeback to a varying degree, smaller budgeted films, Oscar contender films, & Independent films (some are all of the above) do not appear to have survived the Coronavirus Reign of terror in terms of attendance.
It seems that the consumption of streaming has made people more selective of what they will go to the theater to see. That’s not to say non-blockbusters are DOA if released in theaters, but with the post-pandemic world drawing near, the best chance at success is to either have them be exclusively streaming or perhaps even a hybrid release with limited screens to get as much viewership as possible to get people interested that wasn’t there before.
Look at the numbers Disney+, HBO Max, peacock, & Paramount+ have brought in since the start of the Pandemic. Not everyone will limit themselves to what films will be in theaters but the trajectory seems to be that unless you have a gimmick like IMAX or 3-D chances are a film like The Irishman would be better off at home.
In a way, it’s a win-win. If Blockbusters are the major movie market it gives them more wiggle room to make even more profit especially when we have no idea when audiences on a global scale will get a film to the covenant Billion dollars. It also gives more exposure to the lesser films than it would be used to getting & could prevent things from being a loss for film productions. It wouldn’t mean that it would end Box Office Bombs. In fact, on some occasions, a movie can be an even better financial safety net if it was a flop (See Mel Brook’s The Producers) at least in regards to tax credits or tax write-offs.
So, has the Pandemic changed the film industry? Yes and No. While I am convinced Blockbusters will be fine on some level, I do believe that what is playing in auditoriums will be even smaller than it was before 2020. It was probably going to happen eventually I think Covid just sped up the process into giving us a viable alternative to the movie theater. As someone who loves movie theaters & someone that loves watching films at home, I do have a new sense of security when I do both now.