{"id":455,"date":"2020-05-09T20:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/?p=455"},"modified":"2020-07-01T11:20:39","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T07:20:39","slug":"cinemas-may-become-relics-of-film-in-the-post-coronavirus-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/2020\/05\/09\/cinemas-may-become-relics-of-film-in-the-post-coronavirus-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinemas May Become Relics of Film in the Post-Coronavirus World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Karim Aziz Oghly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year is 1896, you are attending the screening of \u201cL’arriv\u00e9e d’un train en gare de La Ciotat,\u201d or \u201cThe Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station,\u201d in Paris, France. Auguste Lumi\u00e8re and Louis Lumi\u00e8re present their film and watch audiences attempt to flee in fear as the train on the screen approaches them. This is a thing of the past. As COVID-19 drives more people into their homes and forces the film industry to buckle due to cinema closures, the age of the theater may be over sooner rather than later.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streaming services have been exponentially increasing in popularity, especially at this time due to coronavirus lockdowns. Around the world, cinemas are closed to try to \u201cflatten the curve.\u201d Along with that, film and television productions have been halted with many release dates being pushed as far as two whole years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illustration from www.cultura.trentino.it<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Many entertainment giants are entering the streaming scene. Walt Disney Studios recently launched its endeavor with Disney+, which has already amassed over 50 million users in under five months. Apple has even joined the battle for the top streaming service. Home Box Office, The National Broadcasting Company, as well as AT&T are among those setting up to release their own platforms. Netflix has, and is, currently still dominating the streaming industry with over 182 million subscribers worldwide. Due to coronavirus, the company saw an almost 16 million increase in subscribers in the first quarter of 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online video platforms already create content that never sees the light of a cinema projector. Yet, \u2018the big five\u2019 production companies, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Brothers, Sony, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures, seem to still be adamant about sticking to traditional theaters. Needless to say, cinemas contribute a large sum of money to the industry. According to the Motion Picture Association of America\u2019s Theatrical Market Statistics Report for 2019, the global box office market for all films released around the world reached about $42 billion. On the other hand, the global home and mobile entertainment market amassed almost $59 billion. According to the MPAA, there are almost 864 million subscriptions to online video services as of 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As more and more streaming services launch and become available worldwide, the question of whether leaving one\u2019s home to go to a theater is still worth it, especially with a pandemic looming. Streaming platforms have proven their worth of being able to support the industry. Services such as Orbit Showtime Network\u2019s Wavo, in the United Arab Emirates, even allows for series to air at the same time as they do on televisions in the United States. WB, due to COVID-19 theater closures, opted for an early video-on-demand release of \u201cScoob!\u201d rather than further postponing its theatrical release. WB also decided to release \u201cBirds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)\u201d onto VOD services early. Disney even considered releasing \u201cBlack Widow,\u201d a likely very lucrative Marvel film, directly to Disney+ but opted not to. However, recent developments have suggested that Disney will be releasing another, long-awaited, property to VOD services rather than having it see a theatrical release. Universal Studios has decided to release more feature films onto VOD and streaming services in the future. The decision was made after \u201cTrolls World Tour\u201d had a successful online debut. But, that resulted in American Multi-Cinema Theatres, one of the world\u2019s largest cinema chains, banning Universal Studios to deter other studios from following in its footsteps.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, production companies do appear to see the value of streaming and VOD. Understanding that money can still be made without cinemas through utilizing the services in the same way theaters are already used is the important factor here. Studios can charge streaming services for distribution rights to their films much like they would cinemas. Thus, such an implementation, with potentially increased prices, can fill the void that theaters will leave behind. After all, one of the most destructive blunders a brand can make is not accounting for and being too arrogant to change. What worked today, may not work tomorrow. However, the homogeneous and, soon-to-be, oversaturated online video market will likely leave some studios lagging as audiences pick their favorites. Because, admittedly, paying an average of $10 a month for a single streaming service tends to add up to a hefty sum when you\u2019re subscribed to several.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a film aficionado myself, going to a cinema is something I tend to cherish when it\u2019s not filled with screaming children and people on their phones. So, it pains me to say that such an experience, as exasperating as it sometimes is, may soon be part of a bygone era of film. What once was a way of bringing friends together may be its downfall in the post-corona world as social distancing becomes a norm. So, anticipate watching a satirical remake of \u201cLove in the Time of Cholera,\u201d titled \u201cLove in the Time of Corona,\u201d on your preferred streaming service rather than at your local cinema chain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Karim Aziz Oghly The year is 1896, you are attending the screening of \u201cL’arriv\u00e9e d’un train en gare de La Ciotat,\u201d or \u201cThe Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station,\u201d in Paris, France. Auguste Lumi\u00e8re and Louis Lumi\u00e8re present their film and watch audiences attempt to flee in fear as the train on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,28],"tags":[22,17,31,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-commentary-and-opinion","9":"category-features","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-lifestyle-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}