Things Will Never Be The Same

No section of the film business has been spared from the pain of the coronavirus crisis and its impact will continue to be felt long beyond 2020.

While it’s impossible to predict in what form the industry will rebuild, the one thing that is for sure is that nothing is ever going to be the same again.

As the economic problems mount and budgets sink, acquisition and investment will be slow to recover and the turmoil is sure to take a terrible toll on countless events, festivals, exhibitors and companies.

The strong usually survive any kind of crisis but even the giants of the industry have been felled by COVID-19. Nearly half of Disney’s balance sheet is made up of its theme parks, cruises and consumer products businesses – income wiped out by the catastrophe. Theater chain AMC is facing possible bankruptcy.

Bigger films like Fast and Furious 9, Mulan and No Time to Die have had their release dates put back many months but less high profile titles have been repositioned to go straight to streaming video and bypassing theatrical release in that way might well become the new normal in post-virus Hollywood.

A more optimistic way to look at things is that once environments are safe again there will be a big return to movie theaters by a public craving collective experiences once more as people remember just what they have been missing.

Entertaining the audience has always been essentially what filmmaking is about and this enduring, resilient, magnificent industry will still be there to provide. But in precisely what form remains to be seen.