COVID’s Impact on the Film Industry: “The Biggest Shift in the History of Hollywood”
COVID-19 has done something two World Wars were not able to do: the virus halted film production, shut down movie theaters, and caused a $17 billion global loss in box office revenue.
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In the past few months, subscriptions to video-on-demand services increased substantially, creating a competitive streaming environment. Experts call this “the biggest shift in the history of Hollywood”.
Hollywood supports more than 2 million jobs in the United States. Before lockdown, these jobs were growing significantly faster than the rest of the economy.
Unfortunately, the new remote-work protocols have made studio jobs more difficult, especially impacting pre-production decisions, such as casting and set and costume design. However, some say that “virtual workplace tech” is allowing studios to complete post-production- editing, marketing and promotion- at rates much faster than before.
Movie theaters probably got the biggest hit from COVID. Directors like Martin Scorsese and James Cameron have expressed that “cinemas may not survive the impact of the pandemic”.
Blockbusters scheduled to be released between March and November were postponed or canceled, Christopher Nolan’s new movie “Tenet” reflected disappointing ticket sales... With streaming services becoming more popular, experts are concerned that stay-at-home consumption may become the “new normal” even after the pandemic ends.
This does not take me by surprise; time spent on subscription streaming services doubled globally during April. In addition, 12 million people joined a service they had not used before, 3 million of them subscribing for a streaming service for the first time in their lives. The most significant gain was for Netflix: the streaming platform gained 26 million new subscribers in 2020.
Although I love binge-watching all my favorite movies on my comfortable couch, wearing cozy pajamas, I think the experience of going to a movie theater is irreplaceable. Will cinemas survive? Or will streaming services take over? One thing is for sure: the film industry will never be the same…