The Coronavirus’ Impact On The Film Industry Thread

[Sithborg]

I think with AMC a lot of it is just unfortunate timing. A-List was a long term investment that was gonna put them in the hole for the short term, and I heard it only very recently started to become profitable for them. Then you add to that the recent expansions they did, and I think they just never expected to take such a massive financial hit like this anytime soon.

At least I hope that's the case, as I work for a much smaller chain than AMC and if they can't make it, then I'm extremely nervous for the rest of us. I really hope they recover though, because my own job prospects aside, this will put SO MANY people out of a job, and beyond that, my nearby AMC is my favorite theater, and I LOVE A-List. I would be very sad to see them go.

Yeah, I fear my more local chain who just went into bankruptcy is going to fold over this, rather than losing a few theaters...

 

[:eek:]

Hollywood Historian William Mann Compares 1918 Spanish Flu With Coronavirus – Deadline

 

[liesse00]

I didn’t think there was any chance at all that the big blockbusters postponed by the closures would be sent right to digital but with AMC possibly not reopening this year I’m starting to think differently. I think AMC is the biggest theater chain in the world and if they don’t come back and with people still not comfortable being with larger groups of people these big movies are not going to make anywhere close to what they would of under normal circumstances. I wonder if studios are thinking about releasing these movies in whatever theaters come back but also making them available to rent online at home for $20 like some are now.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I wonder if studios are thinking about releasing these movies in whatever theaters come back but also making them available to rent online at home for $20 like some are now.

No. But if they did ever do that, don't think for a second it would be as low as $20. Think more $40-$50 for the big movies. Maybe even more.

 

[MadVillainy]

This whole virus thing is actually painting some very bad pictures for all sorts of companies because it's starting to shine a light on just how bad their business practices are. Even companies like Disney and WB are going to come out of this with pretty bad wounds. Basically, the business world that the suits have lived in for the last couple of decades has finally been exposed for what it truely is, nothing more than a series of companies running up insane amounts of dept under the assumption the good times will always last. The one bright side to this is that this will forced them to have to actually think about the films they are working on moving forward. No more wasting tens of million of dollars on changing the CGI in the final film, no more actors demanding 20 million dollars a movie. The free ride is over. Now it's time to rebuild with better business practices, with the most talented people and most importantly giving audiences what they want not what they think they need.

Again with this?
People are losing their jobs, people are losing their livelihoods, people are straight up losing their lives. You can stop with the "Hollywood spends to much" schtick. It's really dumb to bring it up now and during this situation.
Especially when:
a) there are other industries (and that's from big things like major league sports to mom and pop operations) and businesses that don't spend nearly much as Hollywood and are suffering as well. So why constantly complain about what Hollywood is spending when even people who don't spend nearly as much are suffering as well.
b) Not many could've predicted something as big as this happening. Despite financial woes, on the whole the film industry has been pretty recession proof. A world stopping event was not anything that was on everybody's radar

People in the Superhero Cinematic War thread already told you how silly your point is.

 

[MadVillainy]

No. But if they did ever do that, don't think for a second it would be as low as $20. Think more $40-$50 for the big movies. Maybe even more.

Yeah
With renting at home you don't have spend that much on tickets.
For example taking a family of 4 to go see Onward is probably like $40-$50 already with tickets, snacks, etc.
Studios wouldn't want to lose money on that. $20 is basically like 1 ticket and they'd lose on the other $3 tickets

 

[The Guard]

If anything, Hollywood is likely to take less risks after this. Which is unfortunate.

 

[jmc]

Again with this?
People are losing their jobs, people are losing their livelihoods, people are straight up losing their lives. You can stop with the "Hollywood spends to much" schtick. It's really dumb to bring it up now and during this situation.
Especially when:
a) there are other industries (and that's from big things like major league sports to mom and pop operations) and businesses that don't spend nearly much as Hollywood and are suffering as well. So why constantly complain about what Hollywood is spending when even people who don't spend nearly as much are suffering as well.
b) Not many could've predicted something as big as this happening. Despite financial woes, on the whole the film industry has been pretty recession proof. A world stopping event was not anything that was on everybody's radar

People in the Superhero Cinematic War thread already told you how silly your point is.

Why bring this up? Because this is a thread about the movie industry, duh. If I wanted to talk about the impact this will have on sports I'll take it to the sport forum. We're living through history and when we come out the other side the world is going to be very different. Anyone who thinks things will simply go back to normal isn't looking at what happens with events like this. You can call it 'silly', I call it being realistic. The wallets across this industry and others are going to be a lot tighter moving forward because consumer spending it going to be very lean for years. We'll be lucky if this doesn't turn into another great depression. If ever there's a chance to make changes to the industry and create better business models for movies then now's the chance. Frankly, the studios may have no say in the matter.

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

No. But if they did ever do that, don't think for a second it would be as low as $20. Think more $40-$50 for the big movies. Maybe even more.

I don' think there is any chance that a home rental would cost more than a night out for two, with theatre popcorn and snacks. But then I am assuming singles and couples make up most blockbuster audiences not the American family with 1.14 children or the Chinese family with 0.87 kids on average.

 

[Alien Anal]

This whole virus thing is actually painting some very bad pictures for all sorts of companies because it's starting to shine a light on just how bad their business practices are. Even companies like Disney and WB are going to come out of this with pretty bad wounds. Basically, the business world that the suits have lived in for the last couple of decades has finally been exposed for what it truely is, nothing more than a series of companies running up insane amounts of dept under the assumption the good times will always last. The one bright side to this is that this will forced them to have to actually think about the films they are working on moving forward. No more wasting tens of million of dollars on changing the CGI in the final film, no more actors demanding 20 million dollars a movie. The free ride is over. Now it's time to rebuild with better business practices, with the most talented people and most importantly giving audiences what they want not what they think they need.

I am with you on this. This is a great time for change, something I really want to see is the rise of small indie films like we had in the late 80s early 90s. Lets hand the microphone/camera over to people that haven't been handed a silver spoon all their life and hear new voices.

Lets have 100 $1,000,000 films rather than one 100 million dollar films.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Yeah
With renting at home you don't have spend that much on tickets.
For example taking a family of 4 to go see Onward is probably like $40-$50 already with tickets, snacks, etc.
Studios wouldn't want to lose money on that. $20 is basically like 1 ticket and they'd lose on the other $3 tickets

It is a difficult issue because at $20 you lose money on families, but at $40-50 singles are going to balk as they would be paying 3-4x as much as they would at the theater.

 

[psylockolussus]

Lets have 100 $1,000,000 films rather than one 100 million dollar films.

Thats quite eXtreme. How about both? I like storytelling/great acting but I also like high quality cinematography/camera work, visual effects, bombastic score, mindblowing setpieces, eXquisite production design and those sometimes need big money to produce. There are a lot of films out there that could have been so much better if they got a studio backing them up in finances.

Also,indie films have been around forever and streaming sites is already giving attention that they might've not gotten a few decades ago. Both can co-eXist.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[terry78]

AMC Theatres Bankruptcy Likely, Analysts Say – Variety

****, man. Those are the only theatres near me.

 

[-JKR-]

I wouldn't worry too much. Often in cases like this another big chain buys the structure and redesigns it.

 

[jmc]

What on earth makes anyone think someone is simply going to come along and buy the big chain? Folks, this is a world changing event we're going through. Whatever was the norm in business a month ago is no longer likely to be the way things are done moving forward.

 

[Albright]

btw when the economy ends the shutdown, it won’t be possible to shoot a movie the usual way. no close lovescenes or fighting scenes, not mentioning the procedures that require close distances like makeup and so on.
There won‘t be filmings for a long time...

 

[terry78]

Everything will be CG basically as far as casting doubles and stuff.

 

[Schlosser85]

Until we have a widespread, effective, readily available vaccine, I don't see how big movie productions assembling thousands of people are going to be at all possible.

Not within the few months they're still hoping for.

 

[terry78]

I think we will be seeing a lot more animated movieswhere the production can be done remotely by most of the cast and crew.

 

[Dark Raven]

Well there probably won't be any romantic comedies, unless there's one which is set during lockdown. Maybe similar to "You've Got Mail" where two people meet and develop their relationship online, but never get physical because of social distancing. Something like that could be made, but each actor would need their own high-quality camera to film themselves, as they can't just film it over their iPhone.

Maybe a Rear Window-style murder mystery over Zoom. Someone could also hack a Zoom meeting to gain access to another.

 

[psylockolussus]

A Zoom footage movie perhaps. Or found footage films could make a comeback.

 

[Albright]

this is not only affects romantic encounters in movies. also family moments between parents and children or relatives, friends...won‘t be possible to film that without masks

 

[Dark Raven]

I expect there will be a few movies set during the Coronavirus. I can't imagine there wouldn't be at all or that no-one would acknowledge it and make out as if it never happened. It's too significant an event in world history. It might almost seem as if people were sweeping all under the carpet if it was never acknowledged in films or even TV shows.