COVID and the Changing World of Entertainment
Article by Ray Schillaci
As the big Christmas film releases loom ahead, so does the worst of the pandemic as it rears its ugly head. Deniers may scoff and blame the media for the panic, and the politicians for the shut downs and unemployment, but they have no answers when the facts are presented to them: the rise of the infection rate, the overcrowding of hospitals and the mobile morgues that some states have necessitated.
States like Texas and Florida have left taking precautions to the public while others like New York and Michigan have instituted restrictions that have some of the public crying foul, insisting that their rights are being infringed upon. Of course, not one of them argue about putting on their seatbelts when driving or wearing shoes and a shirt in a restaurant. All the while, the entertainment industry continues to struggle with how to reach an audience.
At the start, Universal lead the race with first run movies to stream for $19.99: Focus Feature’s period piece/comedy/drama/romance Emma, comedy/drama The King of Staten Island, the thriller The Hunt, and finally family friendly Trolls World Tour. This was followed by Disney taking the riskiest leap and gamble with their launch of their $200M live action tent pole movie, Mulan. The film did not receive the kudos of the animated classic nor did it come anywhere near its box office with only a modest return and a $35.5M opening.
With theaters closing all over the country, this left the studios with a big question. How to make a profit and get the product seen by a mass audience? Clearly Disney did not have the answer, asking $30 for a viewing of a first-run film no matter how big it appeared to be. A trickle down effect has become evident as streaming services begin to acquire first run movies.
Netflix hit it big with Sandra Bullock’s Bird Box. Now, the streaming giant follows it up with some prestigious titles. David Fincher’s Mank, the story of Orson Welles’ struggle with getting an inebriated Herman J. Mankiewicz to finish writing Citizen Kane. Aaron Sorkin delivers a powerhouse film with The Trial of the Chicago 7 starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, based on the true story about the 1969 trial that looked into the conspiracy charges of the seven men who protested at the 1968 DNC.
Spike Lee presents the thoughtful and personal Vietnam journey, Da 5 Bloods, one of Chadwick Boseman’s last films. And, Paramount’s action comedy flutters onto the small screen with The Lovebirds. There’s also the very impressive seven part series starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a chess prodigy, The Queen’s Gambit. Possibly one of the all-around best films of this year.
Amazon Prime premiered the enjoyable Troop Zero, about a misfit girl obsessed with space who gathers other misfits to compete for a chance to be involved in a space program. Prime also brings laughs and music to the forefront with both Saccha Baron Cohen’s notorious Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and the crowd pleasing Helen Reddy story, I Am Woman.
Hulu has the biggest surprise for subscribers with Russian sci-fi thriller, Sputnik. The best of its genre since Ridley Scott’s Alien. On the thriller end, Sarah Paulson as a dangerously dominating mother in Run. And, the comedy/horror Bad Hair pits a woman against her own hair.
Catering to the horror hounds, Shudder not only has a revamped episodic Creepshow, an animated special, it’s also presenting for the holiday season the crypt-keeper in a Christmas special to deliver all the goosebumps. Their first run thrills and chills are well worth subscribing to with the likes of two of my favorites this year – Tigers Are Not Afraid and Terrified. Also on the chopping block: Leap of Faith: William Peter Blatty on The Exorcist and Blood Vessel, a WWII horror tale involving lifeboat survivors boarding a German boat crawling with vampires. They also have on board a wide variety of notable independent thrillers including the western horror drama, The Pale Door. Bliss involves blood, sex and murder in the art world, and Daniel Isn’t Real…or is he? A college student brings along an imaginary friend from his past to help him through a childhood trauma.
The big guns are flexing their muscles for Christmas with Disney+ and HBOMax announcing two long awaited titles that were meant for the big screen. Both are competing big time for new subscribers and both are offering their tent pole movies for free to subscribers. Disney+ announced Pixar’s Soul to premiere in December with a rumored Marvel Black Widow release within the first of the year.
Not to be out maneuvered, HBOMax has already delivered adult fantasy in spades with series – The Boys, a darkly funny tale of super heroes gone bad and Raised by Wolves, Ridley Scott’s sci-fi eye candy with androids raising human children on a mysterious planet. They’ve also acquired the big budget remake of Roald Dahl’s The Witches starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump).
But, beyond that they have unveiled for Christmas day with no extra charge Wonder Woman 1984, the much anticipated sequel to the smash hit starring Gal Gadot. If that wasn’t enough, HBOMax is promising to over indulge DC appetites with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, reportedly clocking in at four hours (or five hours depending if they let him include his prologue and epilogue). This could be either very exciting or just a longer and worse version of the original movie considering we witnessed Snyder’s version of Batman vs. Superman which was nearly the death blow to DC.
So, as we receive our stay-at-home orders we do have something to look forward to besides board and card games, zoom calls, and Grubhub. The entertainment industry plans to cater to us and not charge extra for our dilemma in the hopes of streaming companies paying out big bucks with the intention of increased subscriptions. The only question is with so many out of work and waiting in food lines how many are still out there willing to pay for a subscription service they don’t already have? New releases are available for us, but in this day and age can anyone afford them? There is that one thing the entertainment industry can consider, looking back on history when they experienced the great depression, Hollywood became king, making people forget about their troubles.
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*Update – As of December 3rd, Warner Brothers has made a historic announcement. The studio is making an enormous generous gesture during these trying times by unveiling that they will have their entire 2021 lineup of films available on HBO Max simultaneously with a theatrical release where available. These titles will be available for 31 days on HBO Max. This includes highly anticipated tent pole movies such as The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, James Gunn’s (Guardians of the Galaxy) The Suicide Squad, King Kong vs Godzilla, Matrix 4, a big budget reboot of Mortal Kombat and Denis Villeneuva’s Dune.
This announcement comes on the heels of Universal Pictures shortening their theatrical release window as little as 17 days when the usual spread is 74 days between theatrical and VOD. There is also rumbling throughout that Disney may follow WB lead. Warners announcement could change the landscape of moviegoing in the future.
Filmmakers and theater owners may not be happy about this, but during this unpredictable pandemic no one knows when it will be completely safe to return to the movie houses. In the meantime, all these studios have films they have been withholding with no idea when to release to an anxious audience. Simultaneous openings for both streaming services and theatrical may be in the near future, but there is no denying that the movie going purists will wait with baited breath to share a big screen experience.
