Shutdowns Bring New Dynamics to Movie Industry

Kevin Hogan
By Kevin Hogan
April 20, 2020Entertainment
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With shelter-at-home orders in place, visits to movie theaters have come to a halt, but streaming sites like Netflix and Disney+ have seen a surge in subscribers, and some actors are switching to entertaining remotely.

Box office sales this year could fall over 40 percent compared to last year, according to a CNBC report citing Wedbush’s analyst Michael Pachter. However, Netflix’s market value is catching up to Disney despite Disney+ reaching record high subscriptions.

Film marketing CEO Marc Becker at The Tangent Agency explained that the box office only made a fraction of the revenue this week compared to the same week last year.

“There’s obviously it’s no doubt that the box office is going to be off this year,” Becker said. “A year ago, last weekend, I think the box office did a couple hundred million. This weekend, it did less than $5,000 or around there.”

“We’re definitely seeing a slowdown from some of our clients. There’s not just uncertainty with the box office but also uncertainty about their jobs,” he said.

Disney, for example, has had to lay off about 43,000 employees at Disney World, and many in its movie companies.

Disney’s market cap dropped over $60 billion, or 25 percent, since mid February and the company has had to furlough many employees in its movie companies including Marvel and Pixar.

AMC Theatres has lost 70 percent of its stock value since the start of the year. Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda took the company over in 2012 in a $2.6 billion deal. Wanda’s theaters in China are still closed amid the outbreak.

Wall Street analysts are saying that AMC Theaters may be headed toward bankruptcy with some analysts saying it may not make it through the shutdowns caused by the pandemic.

Becker says movie theaters may need to come up with some new ideas like virtual reality or a more immersive experiences to stay in business once the lockdowns are lifted.

Meanwhile viewership on streaming sites like Netflix are on the rise.

“Netflix isn’t too open about sharing their data,” Becker said. “[But] streamers have seen a huge boost. I mean, Disney+ just passed 50 million subscribers.”

“They’re absolutely blowing past their projections, which is phenomenal. Netflix, whether it’s ‘Tiger King’ fever, or any of the other stories on their platform—everyone’s staying at home and consuming long-form content,” he said.

Becker said film companies are struggling to get people into theaters already, and the pandemic is making this worse as we enter the “new normal” and the economy progressively reopens.

While actors are forced to stay at home, some have chosen to entertain their audiences remotely.

For example, John Krasinski launched the show “Some Good News” on YouTube which has gone viral. The show highlights people’s uplifting stories during the lockdowns.

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@feedingamerica @foodbankscanada ♥️

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Moreover, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds pledged to donate $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada. According to E! News, they donated an additional $400,000 to some of the hardest-hit hospitals in New York.

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