With all that’s happening because of the coronavirus, it looks like cinemas won’t have audiences in the foreseeable future, and new film releases will be postponed, if they haven’t been already.
Even some major cinematic events like the CinemaCon in Las Vegas were cancelled because of the COVID-19 situation. A very important element of the American life and culture has been affected. So far, for movie theaters the coronavirus pandemic represents a turning point.
Even before the pandemic, many people were turning to prime streaming services, but according to the National Association of Theater Owners they were not a real threat to the long-term survival of movie theater. They claim this because during the last 20 years even the rapid development of technology didn’t have negative effects on the movie theaters. In fact, the box office was continuously growing, more and more tickets were being sold and the total revenue was increasing steadily.
And then the coronavirus pandemics happened. It made people stay home, and it also made the movie theaters abide by the social-distancing restrictions and postpone the release date of some movies. There are now predictions that most cinema businesses will probably face bankruptcy by the end of this year.
Postponed
Some long-awaited releases like the Bond film No Time to Die and Mulan needed to be postponed until a new release date which indicates that studios remained loyal to movie theaters.
On the other hand, some movies continued to be released on schedule, to a streaming audience. We understand that it’s better to watch a movie in the cinema, but thanks to the technology today, a projector can give you high quality picture and a proper speaker placement can significantly improve your listening experience. And as always, there are people who find that equally satisfying and are willing to wait a little and enjoy the newest blockbuster in the comfort of their home.
There are also numerous entertainment companies who are eager to make some movies available on streaming media as soon as possible. It generally allows them to save some money on marketing.
Fortunately for the movie industry or not, some big studios declined this. The main concern of course is piracy. However, although most big studios, including Disney agree on this, they have made a decision to make a great surprise for the families and so they brought “Frozen 2” on their Disney Plus platform three months earlier than it was initially planned. All we can say is – Well done!
Movie theaters in America are doing their best to avoid being shut down or reopen safely. One of the measures they recommend is to reduce the number of people in the theater and have at least one empty seat between each person. However, some states have been very strict on the number of people at one place during the pandemics. So, most studios and movie theaters hope that the restrictions would be lifted in the coming weeks. At the same time, they are reducing the number of tickets in order to comply with all the new laws and regulations related to the coronavirus pandemics.
The Cineworld Group for example, did a massive cut in their audience, lowering it to 50%. They did their best to comply with the restrictions and limitations when it comes to social gathering. Because of this they are not experiencing a massive cut due to the pandemics. They simply realized that if people stayed at home to watch movies the company won’t be able to pay for its debts and expenses. So, earning something is always better than earning nothing!
Some other companies decided to close half of their facilities, and follow the social gathering restrictions on the other half which made it possible for them to lower the impact of the coronavirus pandemics.
At the end we have to say that it’s important for new movies to be filmed and released. No matter whether we are talking about movie theaters or streaming media, they all need content. What will happen if the film production completely stops. Well, in that situation even the YouTube will become a very boring place.