Pandemic impact – should all movies stream day one
2 min read
Looking around the internet for entertainment news you cant but notice the rumour sites, the plethora of comments all around one thing, streaming. In a new world of the pandemic where going to the cinema is either not possible or so much of a hassle its not worth it you have to ask the golden question. Why dont movie studios do the sensible thing and release to stream day one when the open to their limited cinematic experience. Back in the day it made sense to stagger the release, they wanted to make the money in the cinema screen, the ticket, the high priced snacks all added to the bottom line, but now in our new world, capacity is a third or less depending on who goes and what their group size is, there simply isnt the capacity to make the money that the studio needs to recoup the cost of the movie.
So like disney has this year with its straight to streaming, Mulan, why don’t they all just give in and release to stream. Now not all studios have agreements with streaming services, and not all will want to go to somewhere like netflix as they will only get a fixed fee. But why not embrace what is out there, Apple and Disney have ready made paywall or pay services to charge whatever is needed, mulan for instance went behind a paywall at 19.99 and people paid it.
The upcoming end of year blockbusters like Wonder Woman 1984, and No Time To Die, have already been delayed nearly a year and customers are screaming out for content and things to do whilst stuck at home, these are the golden times for movies as a distraction but there just isn’t the new content.
We get that the studios will be afraid to do it, hoping that the cinema will reopen revenue will return, but… newsflash…that isn’t gong to happen anytime soon so its time to change.
There is also the issue of piracy, filming with a camcorder in a cinema is risky these days, as with thermal imaging they can be spotted, they cant see the recording at home and the posting to torrents, but that is but one small problem, most who do this would understand the need to pay and may do so, opening up a honesty donation system may address some of this. Rather than going after the pirates, use it as a distribution mechanism with a way to pay.
All in all it is time for the industry as a whole to adapt to this “new normal” there is no way things are going to get better this year and no end in sight, so i for one would like to see the studios come to their senses as soon as possible and hopefully in time for the (so called) festive season when we will all be stuck at home anyway.
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