How is the movie industry dealing with the outbreak of the deadly pandemic? It seems that cinemas and theatres are dealing with a global emergency. Film companies and production companies alike have been scrambling for government support and aid, in addition to this many actors across the world have been left unemployed as a result of the winding down of many different projects.
How Is The Pandemic Affecting Movies?
The current pandemic in China affects both domestic and foreign films. Many Chinese cinema companies have been forced to cancel new films and re-order old movies after pandemic has struck. Naturally, this all affects the amount of business at Chinese cinemas. This pandemic has also directly affected the U.S. economy.
With less money at hand, cinemas will have less money to spend on marketing and advertising. When a film becomes popular and begins to make profits, producers will cut expenditures on advertising and marketing and increase expenditures on the actual production. Since the pandemic has led to increasingly fragile economies , this could mean that the movie industry is poised for a slowdown. This is not good news for American producers.
What Actions Can Be Taken?
As the pandemic continues, movie theatres all over the world will suffer financially. How is the movie industry going to address this issue? One possible solution is to make more films available online . Movie producers could agree to screen these films and the U.S. could help finance them through the E.F.O. (Export Office of the United States) and/or provide loans. The main issue is that streaming giants such as Netflix would claim much of the royalties that traditionally the cinemas and movie companies would make. Therefore the pandemic is causing the industry to reassess its overall viability as a whole.
Another important action which could be taken is lobbying governments for easing of restrictions on cinemas to enable heavily regulated cinemas to open. This would mean that gradually cinemas may be able to open across the world with strict restrictions in place such as social distancing, compulsory mask wearing, sanitising stations and temperature tests in addition to rapid tests to protect anyone inside the venue.
It is hoped that as the pandemic slows around the world and cases drop, cinemas and movie theatres across the world may be able to slowly reopen in somewhat limited capacity. If these changes do not occur in 2021, 2022 could prove to be very damaging to film companies, production companies , events staff and actors around the world.
Our Thoughts On The Future Of Film
Overall what we can conclude from the extremely turbulent times that the world is going through is that the film and theatre industries have been severely affected and damaged from the impact of lockdowns across the world. There clearly needs to be a comprehensive and coordinated recovery strategy in order to help restart these industries when it is save to do so. Lockdowns across the world has led to a large increase in streaming and a catastrophic drop in cinema screenings and releases. Film bosses will need to continue to meet worldwide in order to discuss this issue further.