How Coronavirus Has Affected the Film Industry
People have begun to fear for the future of the TV and film industry with the uncertainty of the coronavirus. Since the pandemic began, many films and TV shows have halted filming completely. Big films such as Black Widow, Bond: No Time to Die, and Dune have moved their release dates to 2021. Tenet, a film many expected to be a big hit only made $9.4 million over the course of its opening weekend.
Numerous TV crews have embraced the Zoom platform since the beginning of the pandemic. TV shows such as Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live, and other late night talk shows have gone virtual. In the last few months, states like California, New York, and Georgia have permitted studios to resume in-person filming. Show and movie teams have had to adjust their precautions to ensure the safety of everyone on set. The majority of studios have had to invest in testing as a precautionary protocol. Directors have also recently had to adopt new camera angles and determine ways to compensate for the lack of actors interested in filming in-person.
The demand for streaming services has gone up significantly since lockdowns were first put into place. Movies like Trolls: World Tour and Mulan that were supposed to be released in theatres have had to be released on streaming platforms or made available for rent or purchase. Trolls: World Tour was available for rent and accrued roughly $200 million in revenue. Mulan was also released on Disney+ for the price of $30, making around $60-90 million in the first 12 days of its release.
The most hard hit sector of the film industry in Hollywood is Independent films. Independent film directors frequently come short on the money they need to produce their movies. Now more than ever, loans may be hard to come by, as film budgets will likely be more expensive with expanded safety measures. The potential lifeline for these movies are the streaming companies, like Netflix and Hulu, which are known for funding Indie movies and paying upwards of $10 million to get these films on their platforms.
The coronavirus pandemic has gotten everyone thinking about safer ways to interact with others. Studios are among the hundreds of industries that have been negatively affected by the virus, as they are now tasked with keeping the safety of everyone involved in mind more than ever. There is no doubt that this virus will change Hollywood indefinitely, for better or for worse.
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