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Penny Arcade - Comic - The Sixth Sense 2: 7th Sense
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Penny Arcade - Comic - The Sixth Sense 2: 7th Sense
Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.
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Trolls 2: World Tour
Valley Girl (5/8/20)
Capone (5/12/20)
SCOOB! (5/15/20)
The Lovebirds (Netflix 5/22/20)
The High Note (5/29/20)
The King of Staten Island (6/12/20)
Artemis Fowl ( Disney+ 6/12/20)
Irresistible (6/26/20)
My Spy (Amazon Prime Video)
An American Pickle (will now be released via HBO Max)
Greyhound (Apple TV +)
Run Sweetheart Run (will now be released via Amazon)
Miss Juneteenth
You Should Have Left
Palm Springs
Irresistible
etc... Wikipedia has a list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_not_released_in_theaters_due_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic
Of course, these aren't the type of movies this comic is talking about, aka big budget blockbusters. And the reason is because theatrical screenings still bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to the streaming revenue later on, and the direct-to-streaming films aren't bringing in near that amount of revenue.
That might become moot, though, as these theater chains are at risk of just going under. There's only so long you can do absolutely nothing while also still paying a lot of expenses.
But I feel like it's not really a zero sum game between stream/ppv and theaters. I feel like having both increases the total amount of business movies do. There are plenty of people that see it in the theater, then watch it later on streaming/ppv at home or buy it on some physical media if that's still a thing that exists. I think movie studios have a financial interest in keeping that larger revenue stream (aka cash pipe) fitted in place instead of lopping it off at the wrist.
There's also the other ~96% of the world that isn't the United States--note, this is distinct from "not shut down or similar for public health safety" or even "major markets for American cinema." Before this happened, for decades, US filmmakers were trying to expand into "emerging markets" (which is a very predictable and understandable business-like thing to do)--this is how, over a couple decades, they shoved the Chinese and Indian domestic film markets, serving +billion populations that spoke shared but non-English languages, before said markets shoved back for a variety of similarly understandable reasons.
Nothing stops you from releasing blockbuster x in a country where cinemas are open or in the process of re-opening, and distributing it digitally in the United States were no cinemas are opened. But it does mean that the "large-screen ticket-selling cinema" economic model, unsuitable to the United States, does not completely cease to exist. Not when the major Hollywood players were already spending millions marketing films outside the United States alone, with mixed results (looking at you, Star Wars).
If in a year, theaters are still not open in the United States--you can be damn sure they will be open in Japan, China, and Taiwan (where they already are open)...at least sometimes if not fully and operating under strict new procedures.
PSN:Furlion
pleasepaypreacher.net
Speaking purely anecdotally, some of us were avoiding the theater before it was cool. Between the industry's attempts to shoehorn 3D into movies and my own eternal apathy, I might have seen one or two films in the theater in twice as many years before COVID-19 put an asterisk next to the record. Completely different from when I was a kid: I actually saw the Phantom twice the summer it came out (It was unBELIEVABLLLEEEE!). My whole family's like this too: we'll get psyched for a movie that's coming out, proudly declare that we're going to go see it, then free days roll around and we just binge Netflix or Amazon Prime until said movie joins them in the cloud. Likening the industry to a dead man walking ghost who walks might be a stretch, but it's not by much and streaming technology is definitely what's doing it in.
Edit: Had to throw this in there, the "Always Sunny" episode "Thundergun 4: Maximum Cool" explored this topic completely and landed on the likely outcome: eternal piracy and streaming.
You monster
My favorite part about that movie is that I immediately thought, "Wait is he gonna be a ghost?" and then talked myself out of it over the course of the next hour. Made the reveal feel more like seeing an excellent card trick rather than just being buffaloed at 3 card monte
On that note, the top grossing film at the box office last week was The Empire Strikes Back.
If an Alamo Drafthouse ever opens up nearby that'd probably increase the frequency but until then there's not a ton of motivation on my end to pay a premium for a theater.
This got much less likely for me when I moved from Texas to Minnesota.
Online shopping (or in this case, streaming) and social distancing are going to force traditional retailers to think about how they can adapt, and those that don't will continue to die.
I'm no expert, but I think if theatres want to still be a thing, they need to double down on being a great experience and appeal to a smaller group of cinephiles rather than trying to pack the seats. Big, comfy, *clean* chairs, great sound, etc. You'll lose the casual audience but I think they were going anyway.
Of course the foreign market might completely disrupt this and it's entirely possible that theatres die in America, but provide enough revenue overseas to make it worth theatrical releases even if it means most Americans have to wait longer to see American movies.
They're expanding! Well, not now. But there's one a mere 90 minutes away from me.
One in Baltimore serendipitously opened near us in March. They had to remain closed for a while since they were lumped in with the rest of the movie theaters but now they're showing showing films.
One of the neater things is instead of a speaker hanging on your car you instead tune in to a radio frequency broadcasting the audio.
This is how my wife and I managed to see The Force Awakens even though she was still nursing our infant daughter. It was great to have a little privacy dome, both for her and to avoid disturbing the people around us. I would never take an infant to a movie (even without the scary loud noises) just because I wouldn't want to ruin it for other people. But this way, we could turn the audio down to a decent level and take care of her when necessary. It was great to be able to have that option.
Unfortunately, it was while on vacation visiting family so we couldn't do it as a regular thing. Oddly enough, it was the only real movie theater left in the fairly small town. So it was quite popular even before the pandemic. I can only imagine the business it's getting now.
Really I just like outdoor cinemas in general. A bit more freedom to talk instead of a crowded theater.
Not to mention you can do some cool stuff like run concessions through a phone app.
-Tycho Brahe
https://walmartdrive-in.com/
...yes.
They've run that iteration into the ground
Wow. Crazy. The same tech that my drive-in in Bumblefuck, Nowhere, Canada used when I went to see Jurassic Park in 1993.
There's a drive-in here in Wichita that's been sustained mostly through donations/fundraisers the last few years. I wonder if they'll be able to go back to a more normal business model now. It is apparently pretty cool, and you could watch 3 different movies in a row fly absurdly cheap. But I never went. It's me, I'm the problem.
Oddly enough, both of the close drive-ins here are playing Iron Man. They're both twins, with one also showing Beauty and the Beast (live action) and the other showing Ghostbusters (the original).
Greetings neighbor. I never realized you were in the Twin Cities area. I'm in Eagan myself.
-Tycho Brahe