The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic effects on the Movie Industry. The industry has faced losses worth billions of dollars. Movie theatres shut down, the stocks of film exhibitors dropped, productions of movies were unexpectedly interrupted, most of which has not yet been resumed or picked up. While the production houses and exhibitors faced huge losses, the pandemic also made the drastic shift of mainstream media to online streaming platforms more popular.
According to BBC News, people spent about one hour and 11 minutes per day, watching streaming services during this period. 12 million people joined a platform which they hadn’t used prior and about 3 million of these viewers hadn’t subscribed to any services before. A direct influence of the popularity of streaming services was seen in peoples’ day-to-day life and interests. Disney+, which launched on December 2019, the newest addition to streaming services has about 86.8 million(approx.) users already.
People showed more and more interest in foreign tv shows and movies. The popularity of the fourth part of Spanish series La Casa Del Papel and the final season of the German series Dark were clear examples. Besides, upon the release of ‘Queens Gambit’ on Netflix, the inquiries for ‘chess sets’ hiked up 250% on eBay. The original novel ‘The Queens Gambit’ is now a New York Times bestseller 37 years after its initial release. One of the popular films to stream during the pandemic was 2011s’ Contagion, which moved from being the 270th most-watched Warner Bros. film in December 2019 to become the 2nd most-watched film in 2020(March) due to its similarity with the present crisis. Warner Bros. announced that all their upcoming movies will stream on HBO Max on the same day that they get to theatres. Marvel Studios announced that they will release four new MCU original series in 2021, on Disney+. These new ones will join the dozens of Marvel movies on Disney+. Besides, the newest DCEU film, Wonder Woman 1984 was released on HBO Max and very selected theatres.
Tenet, one of the most anticipated movies of the year directed by Christopher Nolan, underperformed in the box-office upon its release in the theatres. This instance has caused many supposed premieres to get postponed. Many big releases like Disney’s Black Widow, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die have been moved to 2021. Some like Warner Bros. Black Adam and Minecraft still do not have any set release date.
Although the larger production houses are trying the combat the loss, it is a very different and sad scenario for the independent-film industry. In a conversation with the Washington post, Sky Moore, a partner in the corporate entertainment department of the Greenberg Glusker said, ’The lifeblood of independent-film financing is loans, and loans need insurance. Now, you have this massive hole in the middle of all of it’. Here the hole being the COVID-19 crisis. Since, its already much tougher to find funding for independent films, the new added expense for COVID-19 precautions and health and security protocols has put greater pressures on the filmmakers.
This past year, Award Shows took place without live audiences. The guests and performers maintained social distance. Many award shows even got postponed. Film festivals mostly got cancelled or postponed which also contributed to the negative impact on independent films.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about drastic changes in the film Industry. As the pandemic is still an ongoing reality, there is not much that can be done to bring back the previous economy and the traditional approach to movie making. But the situation has helped filmmakers to explore different alternatives to showcase their art. It has also made the audiences explore different and new genres. The movie industry will no longer be the same after the pandemic ends. But after seeing how the industry handled the global pandemic, it’s safe to say we can expect a new and improved landscape for the industry.
