The film industry is ready to get rid of 2020 and the global pandemic that has fundamentally changed the way films are made, distributed and enjoyed. But before the box office can roar back to life, there are still big questions that Hollywood is struggling with, involving everything from red-ink swings in theaters to the evolution of the comic book universe of studios.
Here are five major issues facing the film industry when turning the page on a Annus horribilis.
Can cinemas remain solvent?
AMC, Cineworld and, to a lesser extent, Cinemark, have accumulated debt in recent years by acquiring competitors and destroying cinemas to replace old armchairs with luxury recliners. This left them with a smaller fund for rainy days when the flood of misfortunes that was the coronavirus hit last spring. AMC has already warned investors that it needs an additional $ 750 million to avoid filing for bankruptcy this year, while Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the United States, has closed branches in Europe and North America as a way to avoid insolvency. . Smaller, independent cinemas that are not publicly traded are also about to close, although they may receive federal aid from Save Our Stages, which major chains will not be able to receive. With the release of the vaccine so far slower than expected, can cinemas continue to function until the cinema returns on a large scale? The smart money is that at least one of these chains will be found in Chapter 11, unless the situation starts to improve quickly.
Will China still be a major box office source?
In a Hollywood movie twist, China set up a box office revival in the middle of summer without much help from Tinseltown. To be sure, “Mulan”, “Tenet” and “Wonder Woman 1984” were shown in Chinese cinemas, but local titles like the war epic “The Eight Hundred”, an animated film “Jiang Ziya: The Legend of Deification” and o The patriotic anthology “My People, My Homeland” has largely boosted ticket sales and boosted the country’s box office revenues above those of North America for the first time in history. (Of course, it is difficult to compare the two markets directly because the US has not yet controlled the coronavirus, stifling a national return to going to the cinema.) However, the question of whether China will retain its box office dominance in 2021 remains. Also, if you haven’t watched the news, tensions between the United States and China are on the rise, which could mean that Hollywood prices are not so passionately embraced by the public in the People’s Republic.
Will there be a summer movie season?
There is no way of knowing when going to the cinema will return to normal, or what “normal” means in a post-pandemic world. Currently, only 35% of US movie theaters are open and ticket sales are down. This puts the future of the summer film season at risk, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which tends to reach 40% of the annual box office. Typically, new box office hits are released almost every summer weekend. But given the constantly fluid release schedule, it’s unclear whether the summer release dates – including “F9” on May 28, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” on June 11, “Top Gun Maverick” on July 2 or ” Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ”on July 9 – they will stay. Studios may have to distribute the wealth throughout the year in months away from the popcorn season to avoid a pileup, as customers begin feel comfortable returning to the cinemas.
Will the coronavirus change the types of popular films?
Big box office hits and franchise titles are largely what makes Hollywood spin – that won’t change anytime soon. However, the finances of producing a film with a budget of $ 200 million (such as potential box office hits like “No Time to Die”, “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Black Widow” cost regularly) do not exactly add up if traditional studios skip the big screen entirely in favor of streaming services or digital rental platforms. In addition to time-tested superhero adventures and animated family films, it remains to be seen what types of films will be in high demand. Will people be hungry for gay movies? Will the stories induced by the coronavirus and, with that, the mere sight of characters wearing masks and social distance, put people back in an existential pirouette? Possibly!
Will moviegoers embrace the comic book multiverse?
Rivals Marvel Studios and DC Films are both inclined to multiverses, the geek concept of a constellation of parallel fictional worlds that still occasionally intersect. It is a narratively complex bet, which was introduced to the mainstream in the Sony cartoon “Spider-Man: No Spider-Verse” and will be shown in live action films like “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness “,” The Flash “and the next Spider-Man sequel, as well as in streaming shows on Disney Plus and HBO Max. But what works at Comic Con’s Hall H doesn’t always work with John and Jane Q. Public. And after sitting in relative isolation for months, the public may be looking for more escapism than mind-blowing stories. Marvel, which seems to chart a new post-Iron Man phase, has proven with Ant-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy that it can make box office hits on less familiar characters. But DC has struggled to achieve some consistency with its film production. Are most viewers ready to venture into the multiverse, or would you rather just watch Batman defeat the Joker again?