Adam Birkett - 30208130 Media Site
Creative Media Production & Technology - Level 3 Extended Diploma
The Decline of Cinema & The Rise of Streaming Service
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Streaming services have had a meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years. In this essay I will look at the history of cinema, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the different audience experiences, variety of content released and consider whether cinema and streaming services can coexist in the future. Looking at media there are many options for you to pick whether you watch a game show on TV, go to the cinema, stream an on-demand service, or even watch YouTube on your phone. The options are endless but now we are at a moment in history where there could be no cinemas at all, and streaming services may takeover because there is a higher demand for home entertainment.
In 1895 the first film was shown to a paying audience in Berlin. This was the first step to cinemas being created. Although the film was under a minute long, black & white, and played without sound, this led to better films being created partially with sound, colours, and special effects. Originally cinema was a luxury experience, but it soon was available to ordinary people as a social event and to see news and pictures from around the world. In the ’60s, cinema was affected by the introduction of television. However, the crowds of people came back to the cinema when colour was introduced as well as big-budget films such as James Bond films, E.T., The Godfather and Jaws. These became blockbuster movies and as more movies were released people would queue for hours to see new movies such as Star Wars which became one of the biggest movie franchises to this day. Television became a regular form of viewing shows but did not have many movies on, so the cinemas kept their audiences. This stayed the same for years. However, recently there has been paid subscription channels or online services that allow you to see movies shows and series whenever, wherever. The films that were released were mainly low budget films and not films that are part of a series of films. This is because companies did not want to allow their films to be released onto a website where they can use cinemas instead. Having big movies released kept the cinemas in business, also a current way to view their movies until 2020.
March 2020. The Covid pandemic hit. Cinemas are closed across the world. The disease infected the cinemas for months and was left cold and empty. Streaming services took their chance as billions of people were in lockdown and have paid-for streaming services. The different companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus all gained bigger budgets productions as they have a new audience from the pandemic. A series that kicked off was the Mandalorian and gain much fame for the Star Wars franchise. “It’s done more to help the value of the Star Wars brand than any of the recent movies without ever hitting theatres” Katz, B (2020). The sources compare the hype and response from audiences from both theatre releases of the recent Star Wars films to this Disney plus series and shows that people want these series originals. Marvel has done the same with WandaVision, The Falcon and the winter soldier and Loki with their live-action series. Big companies like Marvel still are releasing big blockbuster movies in a cinema however, they are unsure if they will get money from all cinemas as countries are still in lockdown. They released a premium on Disney plus for extra cost instead of going to the cinema to see the movies they pay a premium. “People prefer paying for the streaming subscription services just once instead of paying huge amounts for watching their favourite movies in cinemas.” European business review staff. (2021) People would rather invite their friends to their house and be in the comfort of their own home and not with strangers. Cinemas try and make the deals by lowing their prices for people coming back. However, prices have gone back up as now they have taken the premium feature off, so people go to the cinemas with original prices.
Streaming services also released series and movies that are suitable for all age groups as it makes all ages interested in different types of content which is available for them with the subscription to their services. Streaming services also create their shows and series like Outer Banks, Stranger Things and The Crown which are only available to people who pay for Netflix and do not sell it to other services of content providers. However, other companies can sell the rights to these services like Netflix which releases programs like Line of Duty, a BBC production that is targeted at all ages. With their constant additions to the website, it has kept views interested in their company. “Netflix is releasing 15 to 20 feature movies every month worldwide.” European business review staff. (2021). Having this much content being released in this short space of time shows the different media they have available for release. This quote says monthly, but most of the time it is weekly as there are high demands for new featured shows when it is being consumed by a vast number of their subscriptions. Older shows will be removed after a certain time of being on the site, so, subscribed members go onto the site looking at when there are new movies/series or if there are shows that are being removed from the site and will not see again. This is different for different countries as some might not have the same content as there will be different rights and rules to what can be shown, and they might not want their show on the site which might affect the memberships.
The future of cinemas and streaming services coexisting will not be a thing that can happen straight away. Disney has already made the move releasing Black Widow at a premium price on Disney plus and did not end well when put up against cinemas. However, there was a great response for the people that paid the extra price and people who would not, as they can wait for a new release to come out on the streaming service. In a recent survey of 20,398 U.S. adults, 20% of the respondents said they have no intention to return to theatres once a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, while 10% said there unlikely to return. (Granados, N. (2021). This shows that there is already a decline in people wanting to go to cinemas. Also, people prefer to watch it in their own homes as they do not treat going to the cinema to watch a film as a luxury anymore, but as something to pass their time during Covid-19. People do not want to have to go out anymore and spend money when they can pay the same amount of money as a cinema ticket for a month of endless streaming of a service. Cinemas are putting fewer times on their schedule as they are selling minimal tickets, which does not fill a cinema. People that see big-budget movies will want to have that cinema experience when they see their much long-awaited movie. Cinemas take advantage of this by adding free exclusive posters when tickets are booked online, this also guarantees they have an audience and that they can buy good adverts for the film where they can earn more money off them from the big companies. As streaming services are releasing old classic movies, for example during Halloween they add horror films as do the cinemas. They put times for movies like Home Alone and Elf before Christmas as a unique experience as they may not have seen these Christmas movies in a cinema environment. Film companies like to have their film put back into mainstream media as it increases their profits as nowadays you do not need a big budget to gain a big box office hit. “Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, which earned $227 million worldwide against a production budget of $40 million” Katz, B (2020). This just shows that there is a profit available when streaming service can re-release their movies, the way cinemas have taken have given an effective way for streaming service to open their options to the audience as we can now re-watch some of their favourite films.
I conclude that there will be a future where they can coexist when there are new films released as well as old films in cinemas. Looking at the history of cinema it shows that there was such a discovery in technology for cinema, that this is not the end and there will only be more advancements in media as the years go on. This also showed that there was a rise in popularity of streaming services because of the Covid-19 pandemic and we have seen that there are more people that would rather see media at home on their own devices. We looked at the different experiences of cinemas and home streaming and the difference in service, you get the quality at the cinema but the same environment at home. The types of content you can access at home is vaster than the set movies at the cinema whereas on streaming services it is more demanding. So, I come to my conclusion of cinemas and streaming services can work together by coexisting as they have a big part in the industry as they have been a foundation of modern-day film.
Harvard referencing list:
Katz, B (2020) Every Movie Theater vs. Streaming Release Is Riddled with Pros and Cons, Observer. Available at:https://observer.com/2021/07/hollywood-movie-theaters-vs-streaming-pros-cons/ (Accessed: 3rd November 2021)
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European business review staff. (2021) Have Streaming Services Taken Over Movie Theaters, The European business review. Available at: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/have-streaming-services-taken-over-the-movie-theatres/ (Accessed: 3rd November 2021)
Granados, N. (2021) How Will Theaters and Streaming Services Coexist After the Pandemic? , Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/2021/02/22/how-will-theaters-and-streaming-services-coexist-after-the-pandemic/?sh=558500d45106 (Accessed: October 21st, 2021)