COVID-19 evolved the entertainment industry. People used to stay at home, and now they have to live experiences such as cultural events like concerts, theater, and going to cinemas through streaming and video platforms. With the end of the lockdowns in many countries, most people return to participate in social events. They showed their missing to live shows, but there is a noticeable drop in the movie theater audience.
“On box office, we anticipate a potential additional upside that could see the current year finish around $22 billion globally. The $21.6 billion estimates would put 2021 80% ahead of 2020, but still 49% behind 2019’s record global tally,” said Gower Street in a research note. Meanwhile, streaming services have boomed during the pandemic. Streaming viewing worldwide grew 44% in the last three months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019, accelerating a trend that began before the pandemic.
In the 20th century, television and videotapes became an important part of our lives, and the idea of having a movie theater in every house-made movie theaters’ future unstable. But these technological features’ impacts, couldn't push the movie theater experience out of the game because of the quality of images, advertisements, the difficulty of reaching, and much more that can be a topic of another article. However, VOD Platforms (seems to) have solved many problems of TV and videotapes.
Also, there is an important thing that could be a huge problem for movie theaters. VOD platforms are producing their own films, and most of them are not going to the screens in movie theaters. They are also offering more than movies with their original contents. There are documentaries and series that the audience can watch without advertisement breaks and waiting one week for the next episode, like a classical television programming policy. Digital platforms are already built cheaper alternatives to watch movies in theaters and more comfortable experiences compared with television and videotapes.
Back in 2015, when Netflix announced its first original movie – a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon imaginatively titled Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny – the move was greeted with arched eyebrows and plenty of skepticism, as up to that point the company had poured most of its resources into popular Originals' series like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. But Netflix was optimistic, with chief content officer Ted Sarandos telling the New York Times, “What I am hoping is that it will be a proof point that the sky doesn’t fall. These are two different experiences, like going or watching a football game on TV.”
Nowadays, almost all the big players in streaming like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Amazon, and so on, have their own original content. They have swiftly established themselves as viable alternatives to the traditional big film studios and TV production companies. A lot of talented filmmakers and producers found a viable alternative to produce their movies with VOD Platforms instead of big production companies or government foundations. The audience showed their interest in original content too. We clearly see from social media how original productions get success worldwide like Squid Game, La Casa de Papel, The Mandalorian, Sound of Metal, Tinder Swindler, and so on.
All industries have changed over time, and sometimes extraordinary circumstances force that change to happen more quickly than it would otherwise. Let's see together how we will watch movies in the future.
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