Those good old days with the theatrical experience could soon be ended by the impact of COVID-19. The theaters have no windows crack, but it is facing a lot of flaws.
Currently, AT&T’s WarnerMedia confirmed that all 2021 theatrical releases from Warner Bros. will showcase simultaneously on HBO Max for U.S. subscribers at no extra cost. The action of WarnerMedia is the consequence of what COVID-19 has caused to the theaters industry. Because of locking down regulations and non-essential business restrictions, theaters suffer from a big year of shortage and deficit. And as a result of the pandemic, the traditional theatrical experience will also change in order to adapt with the situation.
Every fans of theaters have foreseen what was coming to them. The locking down impacted the behaviors and the daily basis of everyone. Instead of going out and hanging out with friends in restaurants, bars, pubs, or theaters, people has to quarantine themselves and enjoy whatever they have inside their own houses.
COVID-19 came to bring in an evolution, and consequently, the theatrical experience is part of an evolution.
Nobody can imagine that there is going to be one day, we don’t come to the theaters to hunt for movie tickets. Yet, we stay home, sign up for a premium account on Disney+, Netflix, or HBO Max, and then enjoy the movies. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney was the leader of the theatrical experience. A Pixar animated movie “Onward” was the first release of Disney on Disney+ in 2020.
Then Universal’s “Trolls: World Tour” and “King of Staten Island” were put on the platform of Disney in order to fulfill the desire of users. Disney once again showed their innovative mind when they published Mulan on their Disney+ platform.
Disney was the leader, and they are about to say welcoming to several followers that also want to duplicate the success of Disney. However, the change of Disney and other movies outlets are just temporary.
The theatrical experience could change, but it is going to change temporary because of COVID-19. Afterward the usage of vaccination, the life could get back to normal and the theaters will welcome back the audience to its houses.
“Let’s let the next six, eight, ten months play out. And then let’s check back in,” WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said.
“Certainly this is pandemic-related,” Kilar added. “That’s why we’re doing it. We haven’t spent one brain cell on what the world looks like in 2022.”
Although the CEO of WarnerMedia is very positive, the ranging on pandemic is so unpredictable and it intercepts the soon comeback of theaters.
“We have a hard time believing the messaging that this is only a temporary 2021 plan, however, even if that might be the current plan today,” the Moffett Nathanson analysts wrote. “Once the windows change, it will be hard to go back.”
It will be hard to go back to normal, specifically for the theaters industry. Recently, AMC confessed that they suffered a lost of $2.2 billion in 2020.