By George Robbins
The coronavirus pandemic has given us all a lot to think about and has given movie studios even more to think about. When it all started back in the middle of March we all hoped that we would get news that it wouldn’t be too long before things could go back to the way they were. I think production companies and movie theaters hoped for that even more than the rest of of did to be honest. While it is a horrible situation for many people to deal with, many productions are losing money everyday because they can’t show their films or even work on new ones. With theaters all closed up, there is not really much that these companies can do but wait and see how this pandemic pans out.
In the meantime, this doesn’t mean that people are just sitting around and waiting until they are able to resume working on their projects. A lot of people working in the film industry are not focusing on what they can’t do as much as what they can. This means that although many films are being delayed both in production and post, many people are working on future films. After all, there is no point in stopping working when the world is just going to keep going on around the industry. This has resulted in projects such as ‘Mallrats 2,’ ‘Scream 5,’ and now ‘Legally Blonde 3’ being worked on and developed.
As most people probably know at this point, the ‘Legally Blonde’ series follows a girl that most people would have never expected to be a lawyer actually become one. The original comedy film was based off the novel of the same name by Amanda Brown and was very well-received. The movie would go on to spawn a sequel, a spin-off movie, and even became the basis of a Broadway musical of the same name. Thus, it is safe to say that the movie is pretty popular and would be able to hold an audience even if it was released again today. So now, it has been revealed to the public that ‘Legally Blonde 3’ is currently in the works.
‘Legally Blonde 3’ is going to be a comedy just like its predecessors which is going to be written by actress Mindy Kaling and comedy writer Dan Goor. The script has yet to be written, but Kaling and Goor have only just been tapped to be the lead writers for the film. Reese Witherspoon will, of course, be returning to her role as Elle Woods in the film and she will be producing under her studio, Hello Sunshine along with original producer Marc Platt. With Kaling and Goor on a team to write up a wholly unique script for the movie, we should not be surprised if we end up with a film that could potentially better than its predecessors. Like all other films that have been announced during this pandemic, we will just have to wait and see how it turns out.
By George Robbins
There have been countless stories that have come out of this entire pandemic detailing how difficult things have been for the entertainment industry. Movie theaters have been completely shut down for two months now with the best estimates for mass re-openings being some time in early July. So with movies closed until the summer, studios have been forced to move their movie release schedules around to accommodate to the fact theaters are shut down. On top of that, many movies and shows in the midst of production have been forced to cease all production until it is yet again safe to continue working. In other words, it is tough to be in movie and television production these days.
Though there is also good new to go along with the bad news that has been plaguing the industry recently. Companies that have decided to release their films early to VOD, or Video on Demand, have managed to recoup some of the money they lost from not having a full theatrical release. Some companies have even found success in the release of films through PVOD releases. These Premium Video on Demand releases are movies that have not had any kind of theatrical releases and are being directly released digitally. They are distinct in form from direct-to-video movies in the fact that their production value is the same as theatrical films since they were supposed to be released that way. Also on the good news side of things is the fact that we keep getting news on newer films in development.
New movies in development are nothing new to the industry, obviously, but it is nice to know that people are still working on moving the industry forward while it is at a standstill. There have been announcements for a number of different movies at this point and many of them have been long awaited sequels. Now, it has been confirmed that we will be getting another ‘Scream’ movie to add to the slasher franchise. We knew already that talks were underway regarding the next film in the franchise and the actors that would be returning to play a part in the film. They have been hinting for years that there would one day be another chapter in the franchise, but it would not be until now that it was actually announced.
After Wes Craven, the original creator of the ‘Scream’ franchise, died it was unknown whether the story would continue on at any point. That was, however, until Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett – the directors of last year’s horror-comedy-thriller ‘Ready or Not’- became attached to some new project related to the series back in March. It was unknown if this was, in fact, the next chapter in the ‘Scream’ saga or if it would be a spin-off of some sort. We now know that it is actually ‘Scream 5’ and that they have been trying to get Neve Campbell to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott by saying that the film will be shot in the spirit of Wes Craven. While it may not be known if she will truly reprise her role, we do know that David Arquette has decided to sign onto the project and reprise his role as Dewey Riley. So now, all we can do is hope that the rest of the cast decides to come back as well.
By George Robbins
Nowadays it is difficult to find things to do that can keep us all busy since everything around us has essentially been shut down. Some movie studios have decided to help alleviate some of the boredom that we are all feeling. Movie theaters have been shut down since mid-March when this pandemic was first declared in order to curb the rate of infection. With movie theaters shut down, studios have had to make the call as to whether they should delay the theatrical releases for their films or if they should put there movies on PVOD. PVOD stands for Premium Video on Demand which means that movies would be put online without any kind of theatrical release tied to them.
Most recently, two films have had PVOD releases and have been very successful financially. Those two films are ‘Scoob!’ and ‘Trolls World Tour’ which have been selling at the top of the VOD lists so soon after their releases. These trends may not end up lasting long at all since the only real reason people are buying the films on VOD is because theaters are closed. That doesn’t change the fact that these are the current trends and this is what is currently working for the movie market during these times. So with that in mind it is of no surprise that some movies are making similar moves to this.
Universal is putting a lot of stock into the PVOD release model and it is clear that, at least for family movies this model will continue to work. So wouldn’t it make sense that for some movies, it would be a much better option to release the movie this way than to wait months on end for a theatrical release. This is clearly something that studios have to put a lot of thought into so that they don’t end up losing too much money in the long run. However, there are many reasons to delay the movies as well such as keeping faith with the theaters that were meant to show them or the fact that the movies could possibly lose more money being released now rather than later. Some believe that one of the next movies to release via PVOD will be the ‘SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.’
‘Sponge on the Run’ is the newest SpongeBob SquarePants movie that is currently slated for release on August 7th, after being shuffled around by Paramount. The question is whether their plan will continue the way that they initially had it set up since it would seem to make more sense if they released the movie to VOD earlier. Even if they don’t release the film early to VOD and decide to release it to VOD on its current release date, they would probably be much better off. Since, even when theaters reopen, people will probably not want to go out to a crowded public place even with the new health and safety rules in affect. So it would make more sense it this point, at least for safety, if they released the movie to VOD.
By George Robbins
Premium Video on Demand is a type of video on demand that sees movies be instantly released to the public for their viewing pleasure. So instead of giving a movie a full theatrical release before putting it out on demand, they just put it straight out. Universal was among the first companies to release a film straight to VOD with ‘Trolls World Tour’ and now Warner Bros. followed in their footsteps when they released ‘Scoob!’ to PVOD. There are not many movies that have actually released in this way yet, but the fact that it beat out ‘Trolls World Tour’ is nothing to scoff at. The PVOD market is doing very well in the current global market and it is making things easy for the consumer.
Other movies such as ‘Birds of Prey’ and ‘Bloodshot’ hit Video on Demand much sooner than they would have due to the pandemic. Disney even took ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ and put the two films up early on their Disney+ service in order to give people content to watch and boost their streaming service. By putting those films up ahead of their originally announced dates, they are making far more money than they would have otherwise. This is the biggest premise of PVOD and why some companies are using this model for release instead of delaying the movies. It just makes sense to release movies like ‘Trolls World Tour’ and ‘Scoob!’ because families are looking for things to do, so this gives people a reason to buy or rent the films.
‘Scoob!’ was originally intended to debut theatrically on May 15th, but some time near the end of April, Warner Bros. decided to keep the date as the day it released on PVOD. This ended up working out for the studio because it would end up going on to outsell ‘Trolls World Tour’ after its opening weekend. When ‘Trolls World Tour’ dropped on the marketplace, it went on to be called the best digital debut ever, making about $50 million on its opening weekend. It also went on to outsell the original ‘Trolls’ movie after three weeks despite the first film being in theaters for five months. This changed Universal’s entire view on the process of PVOD and made them decide to continue with this model moving forward.
With all of this in mind, ‘Scoob!’ went on, in its opening weekend, to outsell ‘Trolls World Tour’ in both the Amazon and iTunes marketplaces. The two films are currently in a world of their own due to the fact that they are among the few to release without any kind of theatrical release whatsoever. This gives these companies a reason to want to continue with this model since it seems to be working out pretty well at the moment. The question remains, however, whether this model will remain viable moving forward when theaters reopen their doors and start showing new movies again. The only thing that we can do now is wait and see if this model can hold out when the world climate returns to the way it was before.
By George Robbins
In case people haven’t really been paying attention to entertainment news, or any news, movie theaters aren’t doing so well right now. They have been closed down since mid-March with even chain theaters like AMC about to go bankrupt. Theaters are not allowed to reopen in most places right now, and even when they are allowed, they must follow new health and safety laws in order to stay open. Thus, it is a very big deal that when theaters eventually do reopen, that they have something to show to the public to keep them entertained. If they can’t draw attention back to theaters, then they will end up losing even more money when they open.
Christopher Nolan has been trying to convince Warner Bros. to keep the original release date for ‘Tenet’ in July so that it can be one of the first big films to be released upon theaters reopening. As of now, most theaters plan to have their doors opened back up again by July which has production companies thinking. They have to decide when they want to release their films and if it will be worth releasing them just after theaters reopen. Nolan thinks that his movie should absolutely keeps its initial release spot and that it should be among the first films to be showing when people can go to the movies again. Thanks to new information, we can get a better idea as to why exactly he is pushing for the film to remain in its release spot.
Thanks to an old deal in a contract with Warner Bros., Christopher Nolan stands to gain 20% of ‘Tenet’s’ first dollar box office. With this in mind, it is easy to see why Nolan might be pushing so hard for his film to remain in its initial July 17th release slot. Even if he succeeds in getting the film to stay in its original release spot, there are still plenty of other issues that could arise between now and when the film is supposed to release. For instance, theaters could end up staying closed longer, or the more likely option is that no one will want to go out to the movies after they first open. Even if things work out the way that Nolan wants them to, people might be too nervous to go out to the movies, and for good reason since there is no end in sight for this pandemic.
By George Robbins
Disney+ is now up there near the top of all streaming sites due to the fact that Disney has a very extensive catalog of films at their disposal. Nowadays, people can’t really go out to public places in order to do things, so they have no choice but to find things to do at home. Among those things that people have to keep themselves entertained at home is streaming sites and among those sites one of the most prominent is Disney+. Disney made sure to create an extensive library of films dating way back to include all of their original films. Also included on the list of films and television that they have available are the Star Wars franchise and the MCU franchise.
Well, almost all of the MCU franchise is available to the public, but this is mainly due to deals that were in place even before the inception of Disney+ back in November of 2019. Disney has made sure that all of the Marvel films that they could make available on the service are actually on there with the most recent MCU addition being their box office record breaker, ‘Avenger: Endgame.’ They have been working on original content for the streaming network, but the established movies and shows are what keeps the site running. So, they are trying their best to get the rest of the MCU movies up as soon as they can.
Two movies that they cannot make available on their streaming service are the MCU Spider-Man films because rights for those films belong to Sony. The only other two that they cannot show due to previously negotiated deals are ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ because Netflix still has the streaming rights for those movies. ‘Infinity War’ was meant to release on June 25th and has now been delayed a single day to June 26th. ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ has been delayed a bit more than that having its date of release on Disney+ changed from July 29th to August 14th. The MCU has made Disney a lot of money over the years thus far and the upcoming series are, for Disney, hopefully good enough to surpass the success of ‘The Mandolorian,’ but at this point only time will tell for all of their content.
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