During these hard and troubling times, with cinemas and theatres shut, all sports postponed, coronavirus has forced many changes to the entertainment industry. Everything is now online.
Almost 5 million British households have signed up to streaming services since the coronavirus lockdown began, as the nation turns to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ to alleviate the impact of the restrictions. The lockdown has provided the perfect launch conditions for Disney+, which debuted in the UK on 24 March, the day after Boris Johnson ordered the nation to stay at home. A quarter of people were more willing to consider subscribing to a streaming service during lockdown than before the crisis.
Online streaming has benefitted from everyone being at home the past few months but what will this mean for the film industry after lockdown? With cinemas not set to open until 1 July at the earliest in the UK, will there be the same demand for cinema as there was before? A demand that was already declining before lockdown due to more people preferring to stream the same movies, for cheaper prices.
Movies are unique in this idea because the appeal of cinema is different to that of live music concerts and live theatre. For example, there could be more internet streaming of concerts after lock down but people would still want to go to a music venue and hear the music performed live in front of them. For film, there just isn't the same comparison. For some, it doesn’t matter whether they are watching a movie from their sofa or having the big screen experience. Could this be the end of cinema? Only time will tell but it is going to be hard for cinemas to rebound from coronavirus.
Films that were scheduled to be newly released to cinemas in the recent months have faced a lot of trouble and conflict. Much anticipated films like the new James Bond film No Time to Die with Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek as the villain is also the last Bond film to star Daniel Craig as 007. It’s original cinema release date was 3 April but it is now postponed to 12 November. Hopefully by then, cinemas will have reopened to the public and red carpet premieres can go on as normal. The last Bond film, Spectre, took almost $900m (£690m) at worldwide box offices in 2015 and critics predict No Time To Die - with a budget of $250m - to surpass it. However, the disruption caused by coronavirus and the closure of cinemas is expected to cause the film industry to lose up to $5 billion (£3.8bn).
Instead of waiting until cinemas can reopen, some films have gone straight to streaming. A row between the owner of Odeon cinemas and Universal Studios (owned by AMC) has now resulted in Odeon refusing to show any Universal films in the future. The new movie Trolls World Tour was due to be released in cinemas, early April and was due to sweep the box office. However, despite contracts that strictly ruled against it, Universal Studios (who produced the film) released it online, making it available to stream on Amazon Prime and YouTube, instead of postponing the cinema release. It proved a massive hit, bringing in about $100m in sales.
Jeff Shell, president and chief executive of NBCUniversal, parent company of the film studio, told the Wall Street Journal the film had "exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability" of streaming. "As soon as theatres reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats," he said. Adam Aron, who is in charge of Odeon cinemas said: "AMC believes that with this proposed action to go to the home and theatres simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies." He added: "Going forward, AMC will not license any Universal movies in any of our 1,000 theatres globally on these terms."
All music concerts have been cancelled or at least postponed indefinitely. Most summer festivals have been cancelled this year including Wireless, TRNSMT, Latitude and two of the biggest festivals in Britain; Reading and Leeds festival which this year, was scheduled to headline the artists Stormzy, Slowthai, Migos, Liam Gallagher and others.
While many concerts have been cancelled, artists have come together from all over, to bring the concert to your home for free! Many artists have performed for their fans, from their homes and live streamed their performance on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
In April, Global Citizen organised an eight-hour benefit concert ‘One World: Together at Home’ and streamed it all over the world to nearly 21 million viewers. The concert, co-organised by the World Health Organisation and Lady Gaga, featured performances from global music stars including the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Billie Eilish.
The mix of songs and messages from other celebrities was enough to entertain any audience with their messages of support, encouraging everyone to stay strong and stay home. Some of these were given by Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and also included one from football legend David Beckham who gave a special message to all young footballers, encouraging them to keep working on their skills, even though they can’t go outside and play with their friends or teammates.
Global Citizen recently announced that the show raised $127m (£103m) for coronavirus relief efforts.
The WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund will get $55.1m, while $72.8m will go to charities such as food banks and housing providers. The WHO fund is used to allocate tests and treatment, and to support development of a vaccine for Covid-19.
For fans of BTS, Lady Gaga and Barack Obama, there is another scheduled concert coming up. “Dear class of 2020” is due to stream on YouTube on June 6.
For museums and art galleries, it has been a while since people have come to admire the work that lines the walls and fills their rooms. Some of the most beautiful museums and centres have opened their virtual doors to the public, all around the world. The most famous include the Vatican museums, which display the most beautifully decorated ceilings and frescos. Travel to Paris and visit the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre and see the elegant paintings and sculptures. Alternatively, The Broad in Los Angeles gives you a different atmosphere, a bit like an immersive light show.
Technology has allowed all of this to happen and without this pandemic forcing everything to go online, strangely, despite lockdown causing countries to close their borders, it has opened up more of the world to us. Of course, it’s not the same experience as being there in person but this is how museums can continue to allow the public to access the beauty of their art and history.
Similar to museums, the trend of virtual tours has come to theme parks and zoos like Walt Disney World, Legoland Florida and the National Aquarium which is based in Baltimore (US). Even before lockdown, there were loads of videos on YouTube, made by people who filmed their experience on roller coasters and other attractions. They’re all really easy to access and are fun to do if you want to take a break from work or are really bored.
While lockdown may mean the final curtain for some of Britain’s most loved theatres like the historic Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre company has made an effort to keep theatre alive while supporting the government’s ‘stay at home’ message. Every Thursday at 7pm, the National Theatre premiers a new play on YouTube. These are all free of charge, really easy to watch and they cover a range of styles and genres of play. From Shakespeare, to the comedy of James Corden, every week is a new classic or a contemporary piece that you wouldn’t necessarily choose to watch but enjoy anyway.
Parts of the entertainment industry are under threat and will not survive lockdown. Like many other aspects of our everyday lives, we are now turning to the internet for entertainment. Are these changes here to stay?
Almost 5 million British households have signed up to streaming services since the coronavirus lockdown began, as the nation turns to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ to alleviate the impact of the restrictions. The lockdown has provided the perfect launch conditions for Disney+, which debuted in the UK on 24 March, the day after Boris Johnson ordered the nation to stay at home. A quarter of people were more willing to consider subscribing to a streaming service during lockdown than before the crisis.
Online streaming has benefitted from everyone being at home the past few months but what will this mean for the film industry after lockdown? With cinemas not set to open until 1 July at the earliest in the UK, will there be the same demand for cinema as there was before? A demand that was already declining before lockdown due to more people preferring to stream the same movies, for cheaper prices.
Movies are unique in this idea because the appeal of cinema is different to that of live music concerts and live theatre. For example, there could be more internet streaming of concerts after lock down but people would still want to go to a music venue and hear the music performed live in front of them. For film, there just isn't the same comparison. For some, it doesn’t matter whether they are watching a movie from their sofa or having the big screen experience. Could this be the end of cinema? Only time will tell but it is going to be hard for cinemas to rebound from coronavirus.
Films that were scheduled to be newly released to cinemas in the recent months have faced a lot of trouble and conflict. Much anticipated films like the new James Bond film No Time to Die with Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek as the villain is also the last Bond film to star Daniel Craig as 007. It’s original cinema release date was 3 April but it is now postponed to 12 November. Hopefully by then, cinemas will have reopened to the public and red carpet premieres can go on as normal. The last Bond film, Spectre, took almost $900m (£690m) at worldwide box offices in 2015 and critics predict No Time To Die - with a budget of $250m - to surpass it. However, the disruption caused by coronavirus and the closure of cinemas is expected to cause the film industry to lose up to $5 billion (£3.8bn).
Instead of waiting until cinemas can reopen, some films have gone straight to streaming. A row between the owner of Odeon cinemas and Universal Studios (owned by AMC) has now resulted in Odeon refusing to show any Universal films in the future. The new movie Trolls World Tour was due to be released in cinemas, early April and was due to sweep the box office. However, despite contracts that strictly ruled against it, Universal Studios (who produced the film) released it online, making it available to stream on Amazon Prime and YouTube, instead of postponing the cinema release. It proved a massive hit, bringing in about $100m in sales.
Jeff Shell, president and chief executive of NBCUniversal, parent company of the film studio, told the Wall Street Journal the film had "exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the viability" of streaming. "As soon as theatres reopen, we expect to release movies on both formats," he said. Adam Aron, who is in charge of Odeon cinemas said: "AMC believes that with this proposed action to go to the home and theatres simultaneously, Universal is breaking the business model and dealings between our two companies." He added: "Going forward, AMC will not license any Universal movies in any of our 1,000 theatres globally on these terms."
All music concerts have been cancelled or at least postponed indefinitely. Most summer festivals have been cancelled this year including Wireless, TRNSMT, Latitude and two of the biggest festivals in Britain; Reading and Leeds festival which this year, was scheduled to headline the artists Stormzy, Slowthai, Migos, Liam Gallagher and others.
While many concerts have been cancelled, artists have come together from all over, to bring the concert to your home for free! Many artists have performed for their fans, from their homes and live streamed their performance on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
In April, Global Citizen organised an eight-hour benefit concert ‘One World: Together at Home’ and streamed it all over the world to nearly 21 million viewers. The concert, co-organised by the World Health Organisation and Lady Gaga, featured performances from global music stars including the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Billie Eilish.
The mix of songs and messages from other celebrities was enough to entertain any audience with their messages of support, encouraging everyone to stay strong and stay home. Some of these were given by Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and also included one from football legend David Beckham who gave a special message to all young footballers, encouraging them to keep working on their skills, even though they can’t go outside and play with their friends or teammates.
Global Citizen recently announced that the show raised $127m (£103m) for coronavirus relief efforts.
The WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund will get $55.1m, while $72.8m will go to charities such as food banks and housing providers. The WHO fund is used to allocate tests and treatment, and to support development of a vaccine for Covid-19.
For fans of BTS, Lady Gaga and Barack Obama, there is another scheduled concert coming up. “Dear class of 2020” is due to stream on YouTube on June 6.
For museums and art galleries, it has been a while since people have come to admire the work that lines the walls and fills their rooms. Some of the most beautiful museums and centres have opened their virtual doors to the public, all around the world. The most famous include the Vatican museums, which display the most beautifully decorated ceilings and frescos. Travel to Paris and visit the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre and see the elegant paintings and sculptures. Alternatively, The Broad in Los Angeles gives you a different atmosphere, a bit like an immersive light show.
Technology has allowed all of this to happen and without this pandemic forcing everything to go online, strangely, despite lockdown causing countries to close their borders, it has opened up more of the world to us. Of course, it’s not the same experience as being there in person but this is how museums can continue to allow the public to access the beauty of their art and history.
Similar to museums, the trend of virtual tours has come to theme parks and zoos like Walt Disney World, Legoland Florida and the National Aquarium which is based in Baltimore (US). Even before lockdown, there were loads of videos on YouTube, made by people who filmed their experience on roller coasters and other attractions. They’re all really easy to access and are fun to do if you want to take a break from work or are really bored.
While lockdown may mean the final curtain for some of Britain’s most loved theatres like the historic Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre company has made an effort to keep theatre alive while supporting the government’s ‘stay at home’ message. Every Thursday at 7pm, the National Theatre premiers a new play on YouTube. These are all free of charge, really easy to watch and they cover a range of styles and genres of play. From Shakespeare, to the comedy of James Corden, every week is a new classic or a contemporary piece that you wouldn’t necessarily choose to watch but enjoy anyway.
Parts of the entertainment industry are under threat and will not survive lockdown. Like many other aspects of our everyday lives, we are now turning to the internet for entertainment. Are these changes here to stay?
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