With many films pushing up their home releases as people self-isolate and stay at home, Blumhouse Productions head Jason Blum has predicted that the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will force the movie business to change forever.
“I think it’s not realistic to think all the studios are going to wait four months before they put a movie at home,” Blum explained. “They just can’t compete, they’re going to have to compete with Amazon and Netflix and Apple in a different way. There’s going to be shifts. The consumer is going to be more used to staying at home. Something is going to give, there has to be something that’s going to happen post-corona. The movie business will look different after the coronavirus.”
Blum explained how he doesn’t feel that movie theaters will ever go away completely. He pointed to the collective experience of watching a movie for the first time with an audience before noting how he feels there will be fewer movies in theaters going forward as more studios may elect for straight-to-streaming or digital distribution.
“I don’t think theaters are ever going to go away," Blum said. "The collective experience of going to a theater and taking in a movie, I think that’s going to be around for a long time. I think there’ll be less movies in theaters, there’ll be less of a selection, or I should say, there’ll be many many fewer movies in theaters with the window, and I think there’ll be many many more movies in theaters, but they only last for a week or two.”
Movies such as Onward, Bloodshot, Birds of Prey and Blumhouse Productions’ The Invisible Man and The Hunt have all brought their digital distribution window forward after cinemas across the country shut due to the coronavirus, allowing fans to enjoy the movies at home while self-isolating.
(via JoBlo)