The Stage: Shutterstock (2020)
March 2020: The month an unknown virus spread across the planet, and everything sharply halted to a stop. The Covid 19 epidemic has become one of the biggest global events of the century, bringing considerable economic challenges. As the virus swept through everyone’s lives, many nations, governments and industries were forced to a standstill whilst the planet slowly went quiet. Industries that we absent mindedly used in our day to day lives began to change their processes of production and distribution in order to stay alive amongst the havoc. Amongst these was the film industry; an industry that caused the US alone to lose $5 billion in 2020. The effect on this, especially in Hollywood, is just a small reflection of the consequence that the pandemic had on the creative and cultural industries and, consequently, the wider economy.
There have been multiple reasons for this stark decline. These include an increased cost of on set safety precautions, such as having minimal crew compared to normal and having to deal with the challenges of having positive covid cases on set. For example, the highly anticipated ‘Batman’, created by Warner Bros, had to pause their filming in September 2020 due to the film’s star, Robert Pattinson, catching Covid. The film also took 18 months to produce, due to 25% of it being filmed in early 2020, before the pandemic hit. These breaks in filming, due to lockdown restrictions and Pattinson’s positive test, resulted in a significantly delayed release date. However, despite the setbacks to Batman’s production, it was still regarded as the ‘first true blockbuster film since Covid’ and had a box office success of $770.9 million.
The decline of the film industry during the pandemic also had significant drawbacks to independent film production companies as they struggled to stay in business due to the extreme costs of the new lockdown protocols. Independent filmmaker, Daria Jovicic said in an interview in 2020, ‘For us, its always a problem of getting money, to secure financing, and every time someone gives you money as a producer, they expect you to repay at a certain time. Now that time is getting tricky.’ The lack of economic security, compared to studios such as Disney and Warner Bros, left many companies vulnerable to the high costs of covid protocols and safety measures that were expected in order for their businesses to stay afloat.
So how have independent film companies and large studios managed to mitigate their production in order to adhere to the changing world? Its evidently worked; ‘No Time to Die’ (2021) and ‘Spiderman: No way Home’ (2022) were two blockbuster films, both released during the pandemic. No Time to Die grossed $774.2 million at the box office and Spiderman: No Way Home grossed $1.916 billion, making it the 6th highest grossing film of all time. Despite these huge figures revealing how people are still interested in attending the cinema, both of these films have one thing in common: they are sequels to already hugely successful franchises, James Bond and Marvel. Since the pandemic, more studios are becoming more inclined to release reboots or sequels instead of releasing new material, as there is a higher chance of it being commercially successful and less risk of it loosing its hype.
The adaptation of movie production, from the hustle and bustle of movie sets to a quieter and stricter atmosphere, has meant that the processes of making films has become lengthier and, therefore, much more expensive. A Joseph Williams writes, ‘Time is money’, as the new protocols have potentially permanently tightened the margins on many films. The shift from cinemagoers to online streaming has also become a prominent effect of the pandemic, due to the closure of theatres and lockdown restrictions that made it harder to attend movie premiers in person. Up until the end of 2021, Warner Bros released their films onto HBO Max the same day they were released into cinemas. These changes have ensured that people are still able to enjoy their favourite franchises in the comfort of their own homes, whilst production studios are able to benefit economically off streaming services.
So, what is the future for cinema and the film industry? Can cinemas and streaming services coexist? Whilst this is a tricky question to predict, the stability of the answer lies in the hands of moviegoers and their consumer preferences, now we have the opportunity to experience both. Whilst Covid 19 created many economic challenges for this creative industry, film studios have managed to fight through by adapting their production methods and creating closer relationships with their audiences in order to keep movie franchises alive. The film industry will take a long time to get back to its high successes before the pandemic, but with the right amount of creativity, perseverance and support from its consumers there is definitely a bright future for the industry.
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