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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 26 November 2020
The pandemic is changing Hollywood, maybe forever

By JAKE COYLE and elsewhere — "a grand
AP Film Writer experiment that could
NEW YORK (AP) — "No New have-lasting implications if
'Movies' Till Influenza Ends" successful."
blared a New York Times Director Patty Jenkins ac-
headline on Oct. 10, 1918, knowledged the simulta-
while the deadly second neous release was a kind
wave of the Spanish Flu of sacrifice, not just to HBO
was unfolding. Max but to families stuck at
A century later, during an- home. "At some point you
other pandemic, movies have to choose to share
— quotes no longer neces- any love and joy you have
sary — are again facing a to give, over everything
critical juncture. But it's not else," Jenkins wrote on Twit-
because new films haven't ter.
been coming out. By This combination photo shows Gal Gadot in a scene from the Warner Bros. Pictures film "Wonder It can be easy to cheer
streaming service, video- Woman 1984," left, and Yifei Liu in a scene from Disney's "Mulan." such moves, even if their
on-demand, virtual theater Associated Press financial performance re-
or actual theater, a steady main cloudy (no studio has
diet of films have been re- over and potentially reor- as the pandemic wore on, box office down tens of bil- been transparent about
leased under COVID-19 ev- dering an industry that was Universal hatched unprec- lions, streaming is a bright its viewership numbers or
ery week. The Times has re- already in flux. edented deals with AMC spot for media companies, digital grosses) and their
viewed more than 460 new "I don't think the genie will and Cinemark, the largest and the pandemic may of- long-term viability uncer-
movies since mid-March. ever be back in the bot- and third-largest chains, fer a once-in-a-lifetime op- tain. Can you replicate
Yet until recently — with tle," says veteran producer respectively, to dramati- portunity to lure subscrib- $1 billion in box office in
only a few exceptions — Peter Guber, president of cally shorten the traditional ers. "Wonder Woman 1984" new subscriptions? And for
those haven't been the Mandalay Entertainment theatrical window (usually and "Soul" are essentially how long will the one-time
big-budget spectacles and former chief of Sony about three months) to just very expensive advertise- bounce of a new movie
Hollywood runs on. Eight Pictures. "It will be a new 17 days. After that time, ments for those streaming (unlike a series staggered
months into the pandem- studio system. Instead of Universal can move releas- services. over weeks or months) drive
ic, that's changing. Last MGM and Fox, they're go- es that don't reach certain Each studio, depending subscribers once streaming
month, the Walt Disney ing to be Disney and Dis- box-office thresholds to on their corporate owner- services are closer to tap-
Co. experimented with ney+, Amazon, Apple, digital rental. ship and streaming posi- ping as many homes as
the $200 million "Mulan" Netflix, HBO Max and Pea- While the nation's second tioning, is taking a differ- they can?
as a premium buy on its cock." largest theater chain, Re- ent approach. Paramount, "The whole thing is more
fast-growing streaming ser- Many of the pivots in 2020 gal Cinemas, has resisted like Sony Pictures, doesn't complicated than peo-
vice, Disney+ — where the can be chalked up to the such deals, there's wide- have a streaming service ple want it to be," says Ira
Pixar film "Soul" will also go unusual circumstances. But spread acknowledgement to offload films to. Both Deutchman, the veteran
on Dec. 25. WarnerMedia several studios are making that the days of 90-day have held back their tent- independent film producer
last week announced that more long-term realign- theatrical runs are over. pole releases while sell- and Columbia University
"Wonder Woman 1984" — ments around streaming. It's something the studios ing more midsized films to professor. "The way movies
a movie that might have WarnerMedia, the AT&T have long sought for the streamers. For Paramount, are made and distributed,
made $1 billion at the box conglomerate that owns potential benefit of cov- "A Quiet Place: Part II," "Top certainly at the studio level,
office in a normal summer Warner Bros. (founded in ering both platforms with Gun Maverick" and "Mis- has been really in need of
— will land in theaters and 1923), is now run by Jason one marketing campaign. sion: Impossible 7" are wait- change and hopefully this
on HBO Max simultaneously Kilar, best known as the Many see the pandemic as ing for 2021 while "The Trial will bring it on. But when
next month. former chief executive of accelerating a decades- of the Chicago 7" fetched people hear that, it's like:
Much remains uncertain Hulu. Last month, Disney long trend. a reported $56 million from The pandemic is the straw
about how the movie busi- chief executive Bob Cha- "Windows are clearly Netflix and Eddie Mur- that broke the camel's
ness will survive the pan- pek, the Robert Iger heir, changing," says Chris Ar- phy's "Coming to America back and now theatrical
demic. But it's increasingly announced a reorganiza- onson, distribution chief for 2" went to Amazon Prime is dead. I personally feel
clear that Hollywood won't tion to emphasize stream- Paramount Pictures. "All this Video for a reported $125 that's garbage."
be the same afterward. ing and "accelerate our di- stuff that's going on now in million. Deutchman considers the
Just as the Spanish Flu, rect-to-consumer business." the business was going to HBO Max has had a bump- idea that people, after a
which weeded out smaller Universal Pictures, owned happen, the evolution is ier rollout than Disney+, so year of quarantines and
companies and contribut- by Comcast, has pushed just happening faster than "Wonder Woman 1984" is an lockdowns, won't want to
ed to the formation of the aggressively into video-on- it would have. What would especially critical gambit leave their living room "ludi-
studio system, COVID-19 is demand. Its first major for- have taken three to five for WarnerMedia following crous." q
remaking Hollywood, ac- ay, "Trolls," kicked up a feud years is going to be done in the audacious release of
celerating a digital make- with theater owners. But a year, maybe a year and "Tenet." As the first tentpole Solution Sudoku
a half." to test theaters reopened
That condensed period of with safety protocols and
rapid change is happening reduced capacities, it has
at the same time as a land made about $350 million
rush for streaming market worldwide -- a lot consider-
share, as Disney+, HBO ing everything but far less
Max, Apple and Peacock than originally hoped for.
wrestle for a piece of the Credit Suisse analyst Doug-
home viewing audience las Mitchelson called the
dominated by Netflix and "Wonder Woman" plans —
Amazon. With theme parks which include rolling theat-
struggling and worldwide rical runs in China, Europe Puzzle on Page 13