Will COVID-19 end theatrical movies

[ComicJunkie21]

Depending on the lawsuits someone may get axed over this decision.

[luprki]

If theaters wanted to prevent this can they "ban" WB movies from theaters?

WB is going to be like; so we have HBO Max.
Actually this might be illegal for theaters to do anyway.

[ComicJunkie21]

WB is going to be like; so we have HBO Max.
Actually this might be illegal for theaters to do anyway.

No matter how you try to crunch the numbers, a streaming (subscription) service doesn't bring in the profit the same way theatrical runs do nor have good staying power and because of this WB/ATT needs to tread carefully because it could cost them in lawsuits and future contractual negotiations later. Some may use Netflix to point to success but once Netflix showed companies how they could make money off of their old content, the content owners have pulled their stuff from them and started their own streaming services and Netflix has lost subscribers and had to up their pricing and start have different packages to "justify the price increase". While WB/ATT is trying to be Netflix, Netflix is slowly trying to be a studio company ( or more than a streaming service) because the subscription model has shown to have a downward trajectory.

[beatboks]

I see a lot of talk about how releasing movies straight to streaming will harm the theatre industry, but has no one considered that not finding an alternative way to release movies may be the death knell of the movie industry? We are in a world where the market is screaming for some form of entertainment. That same world has in recent years seen it's youth turn more and more to things like YouTube for its entertainment. My youngest child doesn't watch TV, Netflix, or any of the streaming apps. She watches YouTube only. If a creative individual comes up with a form of entertainment that appeals to the masses and is released on streaming that fills the void left by the movie industry it could lead to the total collapse of the entire industry.

During vivid we have had musical artists perform on line, does anyone think that when the situation allows it the market for live music will cease to exist? Of course not, because streamed music doesn't offer the same thing as live music. There has now been the potential to download torrents of movies hours after cinematic release for decades, did that kill cinemas? No, because going to the cinemas is not JUST about seeing a movie and hasn't been for a generation is two. It's about an outing, or social gathering. My teen daughter often joins her friends to go to a movie and McDonald's or some such. We join my nieces and nephews at a theatre for the release of some movies. As a family we go out to the movies and dinner or lunch. Often when we do the latter we are searching for a movie that Noonan the family explicitly wanted to see to do this because we've seen the ones we did want to see, or there haven't been released that we were waiting for for a while.

I don't see any of this as killing cinemas, it may very well change how we cinemas but any business needs to evolve with change and the cinema industry has been doing so for decades or it would already be gone.

[luprki]

Streaming is a different business model than theatrical releases. But streaming will bring in more profit for the studios. The key phrase is “monthly subscription”. HBO Max will gain hundreds of thousands new subscribers for Wonder Woman and a vast majority will keep their subscription, meaning hundreds of millions bucks coming in every month on WW alone. And when the next big movie comes along it’s will be the same thing. Plus, there is no theater keeping half of the profit.
There are still dinosaurs like Nolan who are fighting progress and change.

[numberthirty]

Streaming is a different business model than theatrical releases. But streaming will bring in more profit for the studios. The key phrase is “monthly subscription”. HBO Max will gain hundreds of thousands new subscribers for Wonder Woman and a vast majority will keep their subscription, meaning hundreds of millions bucks coming in every month on WW alone. And when the next big movie comes along it’s will be the same thing. Plus, there is no theater keeping half of the profit.
There are still dinosaurs like Nolan who are fighting progress and change.

That works right up until the folks behind films realize that you are the equivalent of of Vertigo right before it folded, and move to places where they will get a better deal.

[luprki]

Filmmakers has always looked for the better deal, that’s nothing new.

[numberthirty]

Filmmakers has always looked for the better deal, that’s nothing new.

It is when a company is going way out of it's way to be the most "Hot Garbage..." option for filmmakers and talent.

Their IP isn't enough of a draw to get filmmakers and talent to accept being paid poorly to work on it.

[beatboks]

It is when a company is going way out of it's way to be the most "Hot Garbage..." option for filmmakers and talent.

Their IP isn't enough of a draw to get filmmakers and talent to accept being paid poorly to work on it.

What on earth makes you think they will be paid poorly. In recent years we have seen streaming services pay cinema level budgets for TV shows. The amount they would pay for productions that are released to cinema and streaming as well as all the normal channels will not likely drop.

The alternative is that nothing is produced, the demand of the market finds an alternative source and then they will never be paid as much again. Think about what happens if someone starts using software to create CGI like movies that don't need a production team or actors, directors etc at all. Then we have a void filled with lower costing productions and no need for their product again.

[numberthirty]

What on earth makes you think they will be paid poorly. In recent years we have seen streaming services pay cinema level budgets for TV shows. The amount they would pay for productions that are released to cinema and streaming as well as all the normal channels will not likely drop.

The alter active is that nothing is produced the demand of the market finds an alternative source and then they will never be paid as much again. Think about what happens if someone starts using software to create CGI like movies that don't need a production team or actors, directors etc at all. Then we have a void filled with lower costing productions and no need for their product again

If you have filmmakers already apparently balking at the offer that AT&T/WB/HBOMax/You Get It... has put on the table?

What reason would I have to believe otherwise?

Never mind that they are apparently handing filmmakers and talent millions of dollars to frame the deal in a positive light.

That all but comes right out and says what is actually going on.

[numberthirty]

Come to think of it, this article kinda laid it out in "Basics 101..." fashion. -

https://movieweb.com/the-suicide-squ...gunn-responds/

James Gunn Isn't Happy with The Suicide Squad Going Straight to HBO Max

Talent, such as directors and actors, have complex contracts for big movies, such as The Suicide Squad. They are often paid a sum up front, for A-list talent that is usually a large sum. The deals also often include some back end. This means if a movie performs well at the box office, talent can expect to see another huge payday. With the HBO max release strategy, a huge chunk of potential box office is surely being taken off the table for the entirety of 2021. And the studio did not renegotiate its deals with the talent involved in any of these movies ahead of the announcement.

[regnak]

Come to think of it, this article kinda laid it out in "Basics 101..." fashion. -

https://movieweb.com/the-suicide-squ...gunn-responds/

Ah ha, so much for the WB suing people they are the ones changing the rules so to speak.

[beatboks]

If you have filmmakers already apparently balking at the offer that AT&T/WB/HBOMax/You Get It... has put on the table?

What reason would I have to believe otherwise?

Never mind that they are apparently handing filmmakers and talent millions of dollars to frame the deal in a positive light.

That all but comes right out and says what is actually going on.

O_o ???

Everything that has been talked about being released to HBOmoax at the same time as cinematic release was contracted and dealt with financially pre covid.

Any post covid productions are going to have lower budgets if made for solely cinematic release because the numbers that can or are likely to attend them are reduced and as such the returns wI'll be lower. If social distancing means that a cinema can only operate at half capacity then they have to run the film twice as often to make the same box office. With many of the top return movies that already make huge box Office most run consistently.

Every movie house is offering less for making films in this environment because they ARE less likely to make as much. Yet None of the others are going straight to streaming. The reason that so many films have been held back (like the Bond film) is because the budget was already spent and they need it to have pre covid returns.

The reason to beleive otherwise is that the same lower offers are being made by production companies that aren't going straight to streaming.

[DanMad1977]

So less budget for movies in the future means more crappy cgi and worse actors? I know a movie doesn't need to be expensive to be good, but a James Bond movie with a low budget means they have to reduce costs, and that mostly shows in the cgi department or the environment.

[Gaastra]

From the hbo max thread---


So not only the directors guild but the actors and writers guild may ban wb if they put the films on hbo max also!

So if this happens no actors, writers or directors in the guild working for wb!