How Coronavirus May Change the World of Cinema for the Good

In many ways that I feel like I have run out of steam with my writing as of late, I've got a couple of big projects coming up but there is a drought of new content that I really want to tuck into. We are just about 6 months into this awful global pandemic and I'm privileged enough that the biggest impact it has on my life is boredom. As we seem to be slowly making our way out of isolation, looking back at the last few months has been quite rewarding, I've enjoyed being able to write some big interesting pieces and actually made some positive self-reflective steps for myself. But at this point I've practically exhausted every weird obsession with every piece of media out there, I went through waves of watching and rewatching so many shows and films, even though it's obviously not true but I feel like there's absolutely very little left to get stuck into. As a result of this, it got me thinking about new releases and what on earth the Film and TV climate is going to look like for the near future, believe it or not, there will be a time when everything slides back to normal and I couldn't help but debate whether or not this industry will have improved or got marginally worse.

Obviously financially the industry is going to suffer a lot, the simple monetary loss is going to have a lot of lasting impacts on people lower down in the industry. So many films put so much on their theatrical release and I feel as a result of this some major companies are going to have some real issues with managing to turn much profit.  A lot of big film releases were simply delayed, but the scheduling of films is such an essential part of the business that the knock-on effect of delaying one film could change so much. The big new Bond film 'No Time To Die' was meant to be released in March and so far they have delayed it till November, a lot of the big-name films want to hit that perfect spot when everything reopens and get the boom of business as cinemas come back into the business. A lot of Cinemas are open but studios aren't taking the risk of releasing their films without sure profit, 'Tenet' will lay the groundwork for when cinemas will reopen and it may have hit a sweet spot with its UK release right now. The lockdown rules seem to fluctuate week to week so opening your film from an established director in a time where cinemas are definitely open may be a brilliant idea, it is going to be fascinating to see the turnout of the British people and what this film's release may impact. Like many people, including myself, the idea of going to a cinema is something we have all missed and Nolan's films seem to manage to reach a large audience of cinema lovers. Personally, I will still be waiting it out before visiting the cinema, due to not being the biggest fan of Nolan's work and still a bit of caution to how safe reopening cinemas is.

'Tenet' will be a pillar that I'm sure a lot of studios will take notes from, at this point studios will happily take any profit they can get and I'm certain 'Tenet' will prove an influential film. What worries me the most is the fact a lot of big companies can afford to make a lessened profit from their upcoming releases, it is the smaller projects that are going to struggle and I personally think the Indie cinema circuit is going to be incredibly damaged by this pandemic. For one thing all of the major festivals have been cancelled, a lot of indie films find their place in festivals, without them, they might never reach any success or recognition which is a real shame, to say the least. I just dont really know where a lot of films are going to be released, I presume many will be put in limbo when releasing them is actually worth it rather than risking their small audience being even smaller. It's a real shame because some interesting content is often hidden in periods where not many films are released, it is often safer to release something with no competition. Perhaps some films may find life from being the only things available in cinemas, what may be a gamble for big studios may be a blessing for indie films. In many ways it is going to have a quite dangerous knock-on effect, there is a big possibility that next year will be overwhelmingly full of films that the more interesting smaller stuff may be trodden on and disappear. 

It is about marketing and brewing excitement that will honestly keep upcoming releases going, I completely forgot we were meant to be getting a new Bond film because the marketing was ready for March and now I don't have any care about it at all. A lot of companies will use this time to desperately prolong the anticipation for movie releases, 'Tenet' had a marketing run that felt like it went on for half a year purely because there wasn't much competition for it to market against. The big tell and issue for me come down to what is happening with streaming services and the issues arising with how films are being marketed towards the streaming audience. I do think the streaming environment is currently an absolute mess, every week another service props up that you can pay monthly for other companies' shows. I really worry that the more streaming services introduced, the more that will fall and the concept itself may collapse in on itself, it happened with DC's streaming service and I think the more stagnated content becomes the fewer people will want to buy 7 different services a month. Netflix prides itself on convenience, it was the place where all the shows you liked were on and you could easily access it, the more services that prop up, the less content on Netflix and the less content accessible in general. 

Just last week Disney announced their big-budget remake of Mulan is coming to streaming, for an added 20 pounds extra on top of the  £5.99 a month fee. This is a move that blows my mind, it is gross and greedy, to say the least, praying on the lack of content by charging about 5 times the amount of one cinema ticket in order to pray on families desperate to show their kids something new. What is even worse is that this is a remake of a film that is already on Disney+! But that's a whole other nightmare. I think this is in response to the catastrophic release of 'Artemis Fowl' and Disney thinking that the reason the film failed was not that it was one of the biggest disasters of the year, but because of the way in which they released it. I get there is a lot more riding on 'Mulan' because of how successful the previous live-action remakes were, but to charge this much makes a mockery of the industry in my opinion. It is extortionate and will hopefully not pay off for them, in an idealistic world this will fail and cause Disney to rethink their plan forward.

But what is my point with all this? I get this isn't quite my typical kind of writing and not exactly my place of expertise. This is pure personal speculation and I wanted to put forward an optimistic and hopeful perspective of what will happen soon. With 'Disney' and the other studios, I hope that this will encourage less competitive filmmaking when there isn't a certain time and a certain profit I hope they create smaller lower budget films that arent putting all their eggs into one basket. I hope it becomes more unpredictable and exciting, I hope films get made for the sake of making them rather than to turn their designated profit for that time period. I think a bit of unpredictability might be good for the industry, with no clear awards season coming up perhaps we won't get an onslaught of 'award-baiting' nonsense and instead refine films to have a purpose beyond monetary gain and superficial awards. Perhaps this will be where streaming services that financed little weird projects come to gain a new life and we will get a lot of cool projects that are actually exciting and interesting.

I think this will ultimately have a creative positive burst for the industry, I suspect we have needed a break from the continuous stream of expectation for some time and it's time to take ownership of what is important and what you want to make. A lot of shows that have adapted or arose from quarantine have been really exciting and some of my favourite creatives have found something interesting and creative with working online and without expectation. Maybe those writing or in pre-production of upcoming projects will get a chance to reevaluate and really take their time with whatever it is, my hope is that writers will use this time to refine and consider striving for a bit more. Maybe I am projecting a lot of personal stuff here but I think a change and some unpredictability has been quite a healthy thing not just to the industry but to myself. I hope people have considered what is important, take time to realise how important and special the people are around you and when the world and the government seem hell-bent in causing misery, it's easy to get swept up in the cynniscm and I think it's important to create life and levity when everywhere else is so dark. I fell in love with this medium because of that escapist quality and I wanted to write this piece to really try and realise that that quality is more important than ever. So yeah, no matter what happens with the future of cinema, I think and I hope that this will inspire change and positivity rather than continue being moulded by cynniscm.

So please, support your local artists, filmmakers or the industry in any way you can. Promote people's projects and hopefully, it will make the difference. 

Thanks for reading!