Did you hear that? It’s the sound of millions of movie goers being silenced in one single snap. One movie studio found Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet and just used it on movie theaters across the county. We shouldn’t be surprised; the writing has been on the wall for years. However, this may be the defining moment. Warner Brothers recently announced they are going to release its entire 2021 slate in both theatres and their HBO Max streaming service simultaneously. If this pandemic had not been hard enough on theatre owners, this move by the studio may just be the final nail, or is it?
Rumors that something like this might happen one day have always circulated. First it was the evolution of Home Entertainment Systems. The push behind VHS, then DVD, then BLUE RAY. (Laser Disc didn’t really pan out.) The TV’s followed suit with the release of Plasma, then LCD and now you feel like these people on the screen are in your home. The sound quality improved as well. In the early 2000’s people started to get the feeling that they were in a movie theater in their own homes. The technology had arrived, and some folks even built in-home theaters. No need to go to a theater anymore, right? Well, only if you wanted to be the first to see something. If you missed its theatrical release, you would have to wait for it to be released on Blue Ray or DVD. Enter Netflix and all these other streaming services behind them.
With the release of this new technology and the ease at which these studios have direct access to your TV, the devilish grins got stronger. Then the pandemic hit, people could no longer go to movie theaters. They temporarily closed across the country much like every other business. The only difference was the major studios still had a direct line of communication to the consumer. It’s like the milk being delivered to you directly from the farm without having to go out and get it. How convenient and most of the studios also have a streaming service under their umbrella.
The first shot out of the cannon was with a Troll on April 10th, 2020. NBCUniversal released their “Trolls World Tour” directly to streaming services and bypassed the theatrical release. All across America families got to experience the future. The film grossed nearly $100 million without a single projector being turned on. This prompted an announcement by AMC Theaters, saying they would no longer screen Univeral Films. This started the war, but the other studios didn’t hear them because both Disney and Warner Bros. followed NBCUniversal with their release of “Scoob“ and “Artimis Fowl.”
So, the studio experiment began and with success. Leading us to the recent announcement by Warner Bros. “It has committed to releasing its 2021 film slate via a unique, consumer-focused distribution model in which Warner Bros. will continue to exhibit the films theatrically worldwide, while adding an exclusive one month access period on the HBO Max streaming platform in the U.S. concurrent with the film’s domestic release. The hybrid model was created as a strategic response to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic, particularly in the U.S.” Imagine the look of surprise on all of these actors faces. They when to sleep thinking they were big movie stars only to wake up to find out they are now streaming stars instead.
This all starts on Christmas Day with “Wonder Woman 1984” and continues into the new year with what would have been some big theatrical releases, including, “Tom & Jerry,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Mortal Kombat,” “In The Heights,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “The Suicide Squad,” “Reminiscence,” “Malignant,” “Dune,” “The Many Saints of Newark,” “King Richard,” and “Matrix 4.”
Now, do I think theaters are done for? No, I don’t. Are they in for a short-term struggle? Yes, but they will survive. This will not be their last stand, it’s an unfortunate setback. Let’s remember one thing. As Americans, going to the movies is a national past time. It’s an event or it was. No matter how good your Home Theater is, it will never be equivalent to what you experience at the actual theater. The excitement of buying tickets ahead of time, showing up with just enough time to get popcorn while the previews are playing. The screen will always be bigger, the soundtracks will always be louder, and the popcorn will always taste better. You get to escape your life and be immersed into the film. You are there to do one thing, watch a movie.
At home there are too many distractions. You’re on the same couch you watch the news on. Someone can ring the doorbell, little Sally can spill her juice, the phone starts ringing. I think you get the idea. In the future the theaters might enhance their in-person experience as well. Imagine the T-Rex from Jurassic Park is lurking and your seat rumbles or you can actually smell Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory while it’s on screen.
Let’s take a step back for a moment, clearer heads always prevail. Major movie chains like AMC and Regal are struggling and will do so a little longer. I feel the end is in sight if we just hold on a little longer, some normalcy will return. I will not jump to the conclusion of everyone else saying movie theaters are dead. We are just not programed to watch movies alone. Nobody can predict that it’s over. Based on everything else that’s been historically thrown at them they survived. The theaters are resilient, and audiences will return, just as they have before.
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