Movies & Cinema during the Pandemic? Catch-all Discussion (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Hey, rather than having every movie thread turn into a corona-virus thread, I'm trying to put a "release valve" discussion here.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Good call! Now I can argue with Tino in one place and not a bunch!

 

[Tino]

Good call! Now I can argue with Tino in one place and not a bunch!

This is most likely the only time when I hope you’re right and I’m wrong.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

We might need to have the two of you do a podcast to keep the rest of us entertained

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Moving from other thread:

The world is a different place now than it was 100 years ago. People act and react differently. That’s why I said we are in uncharted territory and cannot use the past as a prediction for the future.

Actually, that's the point of studying history: because it reveals likely future outcomes and behavior. "Past is prologue" and all that...

Not in this case.

In every case. It's a real stretch to think the current situation has no analogy in human history. It's different than prior pandemics, but not unique, and lessons can always be learned from the past.

If people went "back to normal" after the double whammy of WWI and Spanish flu, I'm pretty sure COVID won't be the thing that suddenly marks a huge change in human behavior...

 

[Tino]

Moving from other thread:







In every case. It's a real stretch to think the current situation has no analogy in human history. It's different than prior pandemics, but not unique, and lessons can always be learned from the past.

If people went "back to normal" after the double whammy of WWI and Spanish flu, I'm pretty sure COVID won't be the thing that suddenly marks a huge change in human behavior...

What part of “I don’t agree” are you having trouble with?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

You know, I think you both might be right about parts of it.

I think Colin is right in that people will seek to return to some semblance of normal when they feel that it’s “safe”. (I feel like that declaration will take longer than is currently being discussed.)

I think Tino is right in the sense that we’ll be collectively scarred in a way we perhaps haven’t seen since the Depression. A lot of people who live through this will take on a weariness and destabilizing sense of uncertainty that I’ve experienced with a lot of Great Depression survivors I met. Even though they knew where their next meal was coming from in the time I knew them, there was an underlying anxiety that was always present (whether or not they realized it).

The average moviegoer only goes once or twice a year, and it doesn’t strike me as an unreasonably guess to assume that some people who already have such a casual relationship with it will decide that they don’t want to sit in a crowded room with strangers watch the exact same content they can see at home. I think live performances will be easier to sell to a shell shocked public than activities that are essentially the same experience whether one experiences them alone or in a crowd.

I think it also depends on what kind of reporting we get from here on out and what images get stuck in the public’s head. This is still a very abstract concept for a lot of the country and I don’t think we’ll really know what the fallout is until we start seeing if people are scarred from images of overwhelming numbers of sick people.

Remember - it’s not at its peak yet. This is the beginning. California estimates 58% of its population will have it within weeks, a total well over 20 million. And they’ve got only a few thousand ventilators and they’re pretty much all in use. Doctors and hospitals are reporting that they’re running out of gear to protect themselves, which means they’ll get sick faster and in greater numbers than would be necessary and that’ll make it worse on everyone. What will it do to people in this country to actually witness that?

I think we’ll find normal again but it won’t be as clean a dividing line as it would be if, say, a war was declared over.

 

[Tino]

I think Colin is right in that people will seek to return to some semblance of normal when they feel that it’s “safe”. (I feel like that declaration will take longer than is currently being discussed.)

For the record, I have not disputed this. I actually agree with it. It’s the extent that I’m talking about.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Here's another thing that has been rolling around in my mind lately relative to the theatrical shutdown:

1) Normally, studios work years in advance to book release dates to make sure they have good slots to open their event films. It's also important to balance the schedule so that the films in release can coexist effectively.

What happens when the theaters reopen and the major studios suddenly have a pileup of films that didn't make their original carefully-planned dates? Even if you put aside competing studios, there are multiple big movies from the same company that are delayed. For example, how does Disney decide whether to start again with Mulan or with Black Widow? The studios might need to work together to find a way for all of their films to come out and play in relative harmony.

And a related issue:

2) My local multiplex theater has 20 screens. Even if they reopen with a big release or two on the same day, that's not enough to fill 20 screens. So what are they going to use to fill out all the auditoriums? They won't want to return with films like Onward and The Invisible Man which have made the leap to VOD. It's going to be a challenge to have films ready to fill multiplexes like that on reopening, but also make sure the backlog of titles don't all come out at the same time and kill each other.

I certainly don't envy studio distribution executives and theater owners the challenge of figuring this all out.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

What part of “I don’t agree” are you having trouble with?

What part of "this is a discussion board" are you having trouble with?

 

[DaveF]

Let's not continue that part of the prior conversation

 

[Nick*Z]

You know, for too many years prior to this crisis, the movies seemed increasingly to become entrenched in finding new ways of decimating and desecrating human life as we know it. The disaster movies of the 30's and then their resurrection in the 70's not withstanding, from about 1990 on, it became a trend in movies to increasingly look to the apocalypse or Armageddon that would hit the reset button on life as we know it, in a way that was to devastate millions and leave what handful of survivors remained with a sobering sense of loss, not soon to be overcome.

Well, we need not the movies for this any more. We have the crisis, un-manufactured by art, and all too devastatingly real. What is needed in times like these is not more art revealing to us the end of the world, either from without or within, and no further examples of humanity at its worst, laden in special effects to rape and pillage the human mind with the squander and bilge of self-destruction. I pray that the reset will be done in Hollywood sooner rather than later; a return to froth and fun at the movies; the light-hearted rom/coms, and the fun-filled actioners and the melodramas that illustrate life at its best and the human animal at its most sobering and finest, destined to endure and thrive, and build upon the monuments of yesteryear for a brighter tomorrow.

These are my fondest wishes for the movies of tomorrow - to mirror the excitement and joys of those I have long come to treasure from the past. My more ardent desire is that this terrible scourge which now afflicts us will pass without much personal loss to the way of life so many of us have treasured, and the life most of us hope to lead after all this horror is at an end. The movies - the right kind of movies - can help us draw clarity from these challenging times.

I believe that a quote from Sir Winston Churchill is in order here. "If you're going through hell...keep going. Nourish your hopes. But do not overlook the realities. You must look at facts because they look at you. Things are not always right because they are hard, but if they are right one must not mind if they are also hard."

God bless and keep everyone here safe from harm.
Best wishes,
NZ

 

[Jake Lipson]

Christopher Nolan wrote a good piece for The Washington Post about the importance of the movie theater industry:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...american-social-life-they-will-need-our-help/

As of yet, Tenet is still set for release in July.

 

[Edwin-S]

After this panic is over, I think people will eventually go back to business as usual. It may take some time but the human species, collectively, has a short memory. I can think of something manmade that killed a lot more people a few decades ago and now is enjoying a global resurgence.

The main point is, as a species, we never learn anything. We eventually forget or come.to terms with any massive trauma and go back to our old habits and carry on as usual.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

After this panic is over, I think people will eventually go back to business as usual. It may take some time but the human species, collectively, has a short memory. I can think of something manmade that killed a lot more people a few decades ago and now is enjoying a global resurgence.

The main point is, as a species, we never learn anything. We eventually forget or come.to terms with any massive trauma and go back to our old habits and carry on as usual.

I don't think reversion to "old habits" means we won't have learned anything from COVID. If the health situation settles, it'd be illogical NOT to return to movies, concerts, ballgames, etc. - as long as the risk remains pre-COVID levels, it'd make no sense to avoid these.

The "not learning" I worry about happens on the institutional level - that governments will ignore warning signs for the next pandemic and history will repeat.

But I don't think a return to movie theaters implies stupidity on the part of humans...

 

[Tino]

I think when, or if () theaters open again, the 50% capacity rule will be in effect for a long while.

 

[Mysto]

There have been a few articles on the increase in Drive-In movie attendance. It would seem that at least some of the people still want to go to the show if they can figure out a way.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-18/drive-in-movie-theaters-coronavirus

 

[Tino]

Now that’s a business that has the potential to really explode.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Now that’s a business that has the potential to really explode.

But they'd need to build drive-ins. There are too few for them to make a big impact.

Also, they have nothing new to show!

 

[TravisR]

Are there that many drive-ins that have digital projection capabilities? I thought the transition to digital was a huge blow to the few remaining drive-ins. The only drive-In near me (and it's more than 50 miles away) plays retro movies and only does 35mm.