If there’s anyone still out there who thinks the current global pandemic isn’t affecting every aspect of life, both big and small, consider this: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, a body often notoriously slow to make changes, last week announced a one-time only alteration to its rules.
For calendar year 2020, movies shown exclusively on streaming services or video-on-demand will be eligible for Oscar consideration. It only applies to movies that were always set for a theatrical release.
Academy regulations have long stipulated that movies need to run for at least one week in a commercial theater in Los Angeles before Dec. 31 to be up for awards consideration.
Even with the new temporary rule, each film will still need to be made available to potential voters on the member-only Academy Screening Room streaming site within 60 days of its streaming or VOD release.
The surging popularity of at-home streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in recent years has caused concern for some filmmakers and moviegoers, but it’s been a source of considerable anxiety for theater owners, both corporate and independent. Their livelihood — their very existence, in fact — depends on ticket purchases and concession sales.
This news comes on the heels of Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation’s decision to go ahead with the scheduled April 10 release date of “Trolls World Tour,” a sequel to the 2016 smash “Trolls,” but to make it available for rental on various digital platforms, as well as the few theaters still open throughout the country.
That decision, done seemingly without consulting theater owners, led to some controversy, as did NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell’s statement to the Wall Street Journal indicating that once theaters reopen, the studio intends to release its movies both theatrically and digitally at the same time. In response, both AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas said they would no longer license films from Universal.
That’s a bold move by the theater chains, but it’s backed up by market dominance; combined, AMC and Regal amount to more than a third of all North American movie screens.
Universal, though, was the fourth highest-grossing studio for 2019, with more than $1.5 billion made in U.S. theaters, and a slate that included hits like “Us,” “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” as well as the three-Oscar winner and best picture contender “1917.”
Which brings us back to “Trolls World Tour.” After three weeks of release on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube and several other outlets, it grossed nearly $100 million, more than “Trolls” did after five months in theaters. It’s a feat that has industry watchers very interested, and theater owners very nervous.
On the one hand, the movie was perfectly timed and positioned for success. It’s a feel-good, animated family film that happened to drop in the still-early days of a quarantine where families huddled together and sought comfort.
On the other hand, no one knows yet whether it will continue to have “legs” after this initial “box office” dominance. And its onetime, 48-hour cost means multiple people can watch it multiple times during that window, erasing repeat visits to the theater and separate admission costs for each family member.
The $19.99 rental fee might be a sticking point for some, but after doing the math on tickets, goodies from the snack bar and, if necessary, babysitting, it seemed like a bargain for many movie fans starved for new entertainment options.
Still, it’s unlikely to become the norm, no matter when theaters reopen, at least when it comes to big-budget spectacles like Marvel movies, the upcoming “Top Gun: Maverick” or the already-postponed “No Time to Die,” Daniel Craig’s alleged James Bond swan song.
Makers of lower-budgeted and independent films, especially those that did well on the festival circuit and scored straight-to-VOD distribution deals, would love to see a change in the viewing model, and have long campaigned for equal footing when it comes to awards.
That rental fee had previously been put to the test even before “Trolls World Tour” opened, when movies that were in current theatrical release made the quick jump to digital platforms at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.
Instead of accepting a shortened theater run and eventual at-home release, movies like “The Invisible Man,” “Birds of Prey” and “The Hunt” went right to on-demand viewing at that higher cost. When the price would be reduced down to the usual at-home rate was not known at the time.
An ever-shrinking timeframe between theater screenings and VOD has been an area of contention for the past several years. Just last fall, theater owners and Netflix could not come to an agreement on the length of a theatrical run for Netflix’s “The Irishman,” leading some chains to not show the Martin Scorsese mob epic at all.
High-profile filmmakers like Steven Spielberg have spoken out in favor of big-screen viewing as the best and preferred option, and against streaming films’ entry into awards contention. Indeed, many in the movie industry believe a bias against streaming services resulted in 10-time Oscar nominee “The Irishman” failing to take home a single award in February, and critical favorite and Netflix-financed “Roma” losing best picture to “Green Book” at the 2019 ceremony.
The next movies skipping their planned theatrical release and heading straight into people’s home are animated “Scooby-Doo” feature “Scoob!” coming to VOD on May 15, and Disney’s “Artemis Fowl,” debuting on Disney+ on June 12. Both are family films, too, and unlikely to favor heavily in awards consideration (although the original “Trolls” did score a best song nod back in 2017), but they will be the next test cases to see if our way of watching movies has irrevocably changed or just, like most things right now, been put on pause.
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May 05, 2020 at 03:30AM
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Will pandemic change movie watching forever? - Times Union
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