Streaming reached Hollywood quickly. In its wake, the industry is racing to find a new way of doing business, rethinking who is in charge, how contracts are made and how stars are paid.
The studios are changing their management positions, training executives with experience in business development, technology and strategy. Producers, filmmakers and actors like Will Smith and Tom Hanks are trying to protect their interests in new contracts that are not built around ticket sales in cinemas.
With most cinemas in the United States closed and studios receiving billions of dollars in unpublished films, corporate parents see streaming as their best opportunity for growth. Last year’s domestic box office revenue was just $ 2.28 billion, down from $ 11.4 billion in 2019, according to Comscore.
Now, the talk of the city revolves around how many Disney +, HBO Max and Peacock subscriptions have versus Netflix. Executives are asking how much tech companies like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are spending on movies and programs, and how long should movies be shown exclusively in theaters – if at all.
In a sign of how drastically the change is remaking Hollywood, Warner Bros., owned by WarnerMedia of AT&T Inc., for the first time in its nearly 100-year history, does not have a single executive whose sole function is to oversee production and distribution of films intended for the big screen.