Movies used to be a social thing between me and my friends. Even if we didn’t see the movies together, we’d talk about them and they would see the movies at their local theaters and I would see them at mine. Now it’s become a guess-your-best as to what streaming service a given movie will turn up at. Talk to five different people, and they will be subscribing to five different subsets of streaming services. I can’t talk about movies with my friends any more. And I’m surprised how quickly my interest in movies has cratered. I had a free weekend of HBO Max last weekend as part of YouTubeTV and watched a couple of great new movies (American Utopia and Bad Education). No one I know subscribes to this service, and no one I know wants to subscribe to this service. Heck, I don’t even subscribe, although I will probably check in for a month if the Sopranos film gets good reviews. Now that movies are something I experience in my home, alone, by myself, with little hope anyone I know will see these films so we can talk about them, I really no longer care.
The only hope that Hollywood has or I should say had, was to back movie theaters. These direct to streaming ideas will not be anymore workable than the old direct to VHS tape was in the 90's. It worked for Mary Kate and Ashley budget videos but others on larger budgets, not so much. 2019 will be remembered as the year the movie industry went out with a bang. These latest maneuvers were not exactly unexpected. Everyone knew that the studios were going it this direction anyway. No real surprises here. Of course, this is going to effect a change in the thread title for next year. But it will greatly simplify things... Predicting the Movie Hits & Bombs of 2020
And just to update this, now the inevitable has started to happen as cited by this update... Theater Stocks Fall After WB Says It's Moving Films to HBO Max - Variety I feel very sad about this because movie theaters have been a huge part of American pop culture for more than 110 years, and it'll be wrenching to see them affected by this disaster. I have a bad feeling in my stomach similar to the lead-up of the bankruptcy and closure of Tower Records, Virgin, Blockbuster, and all the other mass-market entertainment stores...
2021 will be the year of cinema closure. Guess I’ll save money by not double dipping, seeing the film in the cinema first then purchasing media version. If they stop manufacturing physical media. Guess there’s always the option of watching a movie on my iPhone.Not my idea of fun.
And now noted filmmaker Christopher Nolan is pissed-off about Warner Bros.' decision to release films to streaming the same day they open in some theaters... Christopher Nolan Blasts Warner Bros. Over HBO Max Deal - Variety
As long as a few big screen cinemas stay open I guess that will be a relief. I’m sure the virus will be controlled by 2022. Hate to think streaming will be the new precedent.
Interesting... "A real bait and switch. Yeah, it’s sort of not how you treat filmmakers and stars and people who, these guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.” This might blow up on W.B. All of these movie directors and producers, not to mention others, might boycott them in the future. Then, what product will they have to show on their streaming service? Tenet did produce income in the theater. It could then make its way to streaming and eventually on to home media and other outlets. I don't envision this turning out well for the studio...
Christopher Nolan's Tenet will be available on home video and streaming in one week, on December 15th.
IDK, but it seems to me that any theater ( or chain) that can still open its doors post pandemic might be catering to pent up demand. Not many new movies? Creative booking of older movies might be a partial solution. Nothing rivalled seeing 'Apocalypse Now' or 'Bullit' in a theater.
OK, Boomer. I kid, I kid, but no one under the age of 55 is jonesing to see Apocalypse Now or The French Connection at all, much less jonesing to see those movies in a theatre. I’ve said this before, but before the pandemic, my local theatre used to screen classic movies once or twice a month, usually on Sundays, but also, I think, on the occasional weeknight. I believe it was a partnership with AMC. The AMC movie guy gave a little talk on screen before each feature. Over the past two or three years, we caught: North by Northwest, the Graduate, Saturday Night Fever, South Pacific, and maybe one or two others. On the big screen, like you’re supposed to see movies, blah blah blah. There were never more than five other people total in the theatre besides us. At South Pacific, there was one other couple, middle-aged, of course, like us. Part of that was doubtless because the tickets were something like $5 more expensive than tickets to a new movie, but most of it was because no under the age of 50 or 60 wants to go see “classic” movies in the theatre anymore. If it’s not Avengers: Eternity Battle, Pt. 2B, no one wants to go the theatre anymore. As is often the case, I just don’t think SHtv nostalgia for the way things used to be accurately reflects modern reality.
Agree on the call of Morbius as a bomb. I read Marvel Comics as a kid, I know who Morbius is. I thought he was stupid then, and he looks stupid in the trailer for this movie now. Agree that Jared Leto is not an A-list star. As I’ve said before, if Marvel can transition from the Avengers to C-list characters such as Morbius and Shang-Chi and make blockbuster hits out of those characters, I will bow down to them and eat my hat.
I liked the trailer and I'm at least curious to learn more about it. Plus it has the Marvel connection which will work in its favor. A Halloween release would be a smart idea. I would not put too much trust in critics' scores anymore. Venom indeed scored low with critics but was a huge success. I myself enjoyed Venom a lot. It wasn't a masterpiece but it was an enjoyable movie that didn't take itself too seriously and was one of the few Marvel movies you could watch without having to see other connected movies in order to "get" it. I am curious to see how the post Endgame Disney Marvel movies will do. Far From Home got released right after Endgame so it could at least profit from the Endgame hype but I do think Endgame has been a drop off point for a lot of Marvel Disney fans with the departures of Cap and Iron Man. I still think Black Widow will be released on D+ but even if it gets released in cinemas I can't get hyped for it since we already know how the titular character's life will end. There is no tension whether she survives this movie, which is crucial in these kinds of movies. I think it would be a way more interesting movie if released pre-Infinity war. (or even between IW and Endgame)
I don’t care about critics’ scores. I saw the trailer for Morbius and I thought it looked like a stupid, generic horror movie. Maybe Marvel knows better than I do. We shall see.
Yes, familiar with such bookings. IMO, they're usually not promoted very well, and those theaters don't know how to cultivate a new audience
They were promoted well enough that I was aware of them. I just don’t think the average person shares the SHtv obsession with clinging to the way moviegoing used to be, or cares about seeing 1960s or 1970s movies in the theatre. Maybe after the pandemic begins to lessen, theatres will do a booming business screening Jaws and Kramer vs. Kramer, as the pent-up demand for old school movie experiences explodes. But I doubt it.
And now there's fallout from Warner Bros.' decision to release 17 movies direct to streaming in the next few weeks... Would Cinemas Be Hypocritical Playing Warner-HBO Max Films After Netflix Rebuff?
