How might movie theaters die little by little ?
In our century, the movie business is always changing, and this sector is very coveted. However, the market is in free fall especially since the coronavirus crisis and the birth of streaming platforms. Film fans found the alternative of it by Netflix, Disney +, Prime Video or many others especially during lockdown. So, we are going to study this film industry which is left out because of the pandemic and streaming.
THE CORONAVIRUS KILLING THE CINEMA
The health crisis has profoundly changed the economy and the certainties of the seventh art. The world of culture is not only overwhelmed, but furious. In an effort to defeat this unknown and devastating virus, governments have had to make decisions that prevent human connections as much as possible. Thus, one of the provisions put in place was the closure of cinemas: cinemas know a dramatic drop and now try to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. Between closures, reduction in their reception capacity and shortage of films showing, French cinemas had a difficult year 2020. And while the Council of State has just validated their closure until further notice, attendance at establishments decreased rapidly by 69.4% from last year. According to a report from the National Cinema Center, French cinemas recorded only 65.10 million admissions in 2020, against 213.07 million in 2019.
Since the crisis began movie theaters from all over the world were one of the first places that were closed. In some countries they were reopened during summer like Italy but some of them also decided to keep them closed like Montenegro. Even if some of them were reopened during summer this situation is really hard for this sector. For most people this was the only place where they could see movies. So, it means that since last year they couldn’t see movies. During 2020 the biggest box-office hit was “the eight hundred” with 468 million dollars. It was the first time since 2007 that the top growing film of a year had earned less than 1 billion dollars, and also the first time that a non-American movie was the top grossing film. From January to march the box office losses in Italy were from 70, 75%. Many movies were canceled during last year and made cinema really poor in the news.
THE STREAMING PLATFORMS KILLING THE CINEMA
For some years now, Netflix has revolutionized the way we watch our films. New platforms have emerged slowly and nowadays, we know many websites to watch movies or TV shows like Amazon Prime, OCS max, Disney+ or HULU. Despite everything, Netflix remains the leader on the market because they have a lot of programs with a low price. Indeed, the main reason why people watch more films on the streaming platforms than at the cinema is the price. In North America, moviegoers had to pay an average ticket price of 9.16 US dollars (an increase since 2017). Thus, the price is quite high for just one film if we compare to the subscription price of Netflix, for example. In the USA, Netflix streaming plans cost $8.99 per month for the basic plan, $13.99 per month for the Standard, and $17.99 per month for the Premium. We have here significant numbers because taking into account that Netflix proposes 4.010 movies in the United States, when and where we want, and we can watch them unlimited. And so, if you compare, people pay about the same price for a single movie when they have thousands of them next door on the platforms.
Also, populations are increasingly sedentary. People are in a good mood at home and they don’t want to leave it. So, the streaming platforms are there to offer thousands of programs at your fingertips without moving from your bed or your sofa. As a result of the Covid crisis, people are more likely to be at home even when cinemas reopen, they may be afraid of transmission and will favor « home cinema ». The platforms use a large part of their budget to afford well-known actors or directors. The ones we usually see in the cinema are found on our screens on streaming platforms such as Chris Hemsworth in « Tyler Rake » for example. This is a significant point since users no longer need to travel to cinemas to see their favorite actors. We must also take into account the fact that cinema networks are increasingly demanding about the films they broadcast. Thus, by deciding to release the film on a streaming platform, the broadcasting costs are lower. We therefore conclude that cinemas are more selective and exclude films that do not necessarily correspond to the standards that are offered to the public; on the other hand, streaming platforms are alternatives to theatrical releases that are attracting more and more production and broadcasting companies.
With all these reasons, streaming platforms are therefore constantly contributing to the decline of cinema and becoming increasingly important in the cinematographic world and offers many advantages.
To conclude, cinemas have been suffering a lot for some time now: pandemic, streaming and sedentary is at the heart of the problem. The goal is to find a solution to save the theaters because the cinema must stay as long as possible. The first step would be to reopen cinemas while respecting the barriers and supporting film associations. The ideal would be to call on people to go and see films in theaters to support the community that is suffering financially. To save theaters, we would also have to balance our film viewing with streaming. We have every right to watch Netflix or Prime Video, but if we want to keep the theaters alive, we have to go and see the new films directly at the cinema.
