How the industry is riding out the pandemic
Video-on-demand services and streaming platforms reach a wider audience as studios rethink distribution strategies
It will be a while before any cinema can operate safely at full capacity; in the UAE, a maximum of 30 per cent occupancy is allowed.
Anyone who scorned video-on-demand (VOD) services or tried to banish them from qualifying for major movie awards will be backtracking now.
In April, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences temporarily loosened their restrictions on which films are eligible for the Oscars, due to the “devastating COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Until further notice, and for the 93rd Awards year only, films that had a previously planned theatrical release but are initially made available on a commercial streaming or VOD service may qualify in the Best Picture, general entry and speciality categories for the 93rd Academy Awards,” they announced, in a statement.
AFP
The 93rd Oscars ceremony will be held on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Studios have been forced to rethink their distribution strategies drastically. There is no blueprint for what’s happening in the modern movie-going world.
Cinema closures across major markets, such as Los Angeles and New York, equate to lost money every day. It will be a while before any cinema can operate safely at full capacity; in the UAE, a maximum of 30 per cent occupancy is allowed.
So, in order to reach the widest audience possible, blockbusters are finding a home on streaming platforms.
Mulan is a prime example. Disney decided to release the live-action remake theatrically on September 4, while simultaneously making it available on their streaming platform, Disney+, for a fee of $30. We’re likely to see more and more of these dual-launch films.
Cinema actors are no longer just cinema actors, either. That’s a change that was already in motion before the pandemic hit. Henry Cavill can be Superman on the big screen and Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix film Enola.
Pattinson will be Batman soon, and Tom Holland made a name as Spiderman, but they will both star in Netflix’s upcoming psychological thriller, The Devil all the Time.
The distinction between TV actors and cinema actors is becoming less obvious.
This could be a good thing, eventually, once VOD films find their footing. Several VOD releases with gargantuan budgets, such as Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman ($159 million), starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, or Michael Bay’s 6 Underground ($150 million), starring Ryan Reynolds, had questionable performances. The former was a critical success yet a box office flop, and the latter was a critical flop, but raked in more than 80 million viewers in its first month, according to Netflix.