In an effort to give businesses a chance to make money so they aren’t completely financially ruined, Georgia state is re-opening public businesses with restrictions. There are a lot of issues that arise from people suddenly going back to being in public places with a lot of other people. With that in mind, the question is presented as, “What happens when we leave the house?” The state government has managed to come up with rules to allow public businesses to re-open while trying to look out for the safety of citizens. These rules are similar to ones that are essentially already in place in stores that are still open.
Those of you who have left the house in order to go out and get necessities know what stores look like with social distancing rules in place. Things like tape on the floor to keep people six feet apart as well as signs placed everywhere reminding people to stay apart. Businesses must take many additional precautions in order to re-open such as screening patrons for fever at the entrance, limiting occupancy, implementing heavy sanitation routines and staggering employee work stations. Theaters have even more restrictions with people being forced to sit six feet apart, parties can only have up to six people in them. Additionally, “employees must clean every seat, armrest, door handle, handrail and doorknob before and after each showing,” and ushers “will help enforce social distancing.”
Many theaters almost immediately started going under financially after the pandemic began with even the largest theater chain, AMC, having to furlough its employees. However, even with some theaters choosing to re-open, there is the issue with what movies they will be able to show and how many people would even want to go. With movies either pushed to later dates or released digitally, theaters only have what is in their inventory to show the public. Also, people are wary to go back out in public, and rightly so, given the threat that still exists out there. With that in mind, this is how they plan to do things in the coming weeks.
So, with the states of Georgia and Tennessee planning, quite poorly, on re-opening public establishments with certain restrictions, theaters are also planning on opening their doors. This leaves many theaters with nothing, however, since no new motion pictures will be available. With no new films available for premieres, theaters are left showing older films or they must repeat showings of other films. Not only will theaters be short on films, they will be short on people. Specifically, they will be short on people because those who are being cautious and safe will not be going, especially if there are crowds.
These things have been taken notice of by NATO, the National Association of Theater Owners, who recognize the issues that are being presented. The association has already noted that these things will end up being a major issue and that it will create problems for theaters that actually do re-open. Not having any new films and knowing that they will not sell out that many seats leaves very few options as to what to do. Not only do they have nothing to offer, but many theaters will also be understaffed since many employees had to be let go when all of this began.
“The movie theater industry is a national industry,” as said by a spokesperson from NATO. This means that unless all theaters can re-open, there will be issues with how movies are shown on the big screen. So, from their point of view, they are saying that it is a market that simply would not exist at this point in time, even if they did re-open. It being a national industry and there being no new product to push means that it will likely be one of the last industries to properly re-open their doors and it is still a long way off.
Many theater chains such as AMC or Cinemark will not re-open until they know for sure that they have some kind of market to open up to. AMC isn’t planning on trying to re-open until June, while Cinemark is trying to aim for a re-opening in July. Now, we are seeing summer films being pushed back as it becomes more apparent that this is something that will go on longer than originally anticipated. With theater companies chasing after release dates for movies so that they have something to show, even if Georgia and Tennessee want theaters re-opened, they may have no choice but to stay closed.
It is of no surprise to anybody that movie delays are still being listed off and companies are trying to re-slate their entire line-ups. With an ever-changing situation, there are going to be scenarios like these where movies meant to release in May are now being pushed to November, or in the case of ‘Fast and Furious 9’ Spring of next year. Delays are varying based off of the movies individually, and the studios producing them. Some movies that moved back when all of this just began have spots in line-ups this year, while other movies were forced to take the place of other movies that studios had lined up. The rest of the movies without a time slot are forced to look way into the future.
Movies that aren’t a part of a franchise have had to push back their release dates an entire year in order to premiere like studios were hoping they would. What this means is that films that were meant to play this summer for the summer crowds will have to wait until next year. Many people are wondering if this is really necessary since some believe that this pandemic will not last too much longer. That is where a lot of people just don’t seem to understand what is going on.
It has only been about a month and a half since the pandemic was declared worldwide. While the number of newly infected cases is not rising exponentially, that doesn’t mean that there are no new cases. The virus will not just simply disappear, and people need to understand that we are now stuck like this for the long haul. Some doctors are making strong predictions that we will be dealing with this going into the Fall. Some movie studios saw this coming and will still be able to show their films this year while others will not.
Studios are now scrambling to find good release windows for their films and this is, in turn, making more delays pop up down the line. Luckily, films that haven’t started production yet are much more fluid, but they have still been forced to be pushed back. So now, in order for production companies to maximize profits, they have to push releases incredibly far off into the future. With that in mind, it is probably a good idea to get used to the fact that films we want to see are going to take far longer to release than we originally anticipated.
So what does it mean for ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ to be “desperate” for production? What I mean is that the movie was supposed to begin production right as all of this pandemic mess began and people are anxious to get started on the film. Filming for the movie was taking place in Italy as part of its essential production, but due to the pandemic situation in Italy, they moved to England and then they had to postpone it indefinitely. Now there are countless pushes to try and get that movie back on track with its production, even the exclusion of parts that have already started.
One of the biggest decisions currently being made is one that will decide whether the work already done in Italy was just a wash. Actor Tom Cruise has already said that he is hoping that shooting can continue in June, but there is absolutely no guarantee that this will happen. The coronavirus pandemic is an ever-changing situation that nobody can predict and is messing up countless schedules. This has created a dilemma since, besides the frustration of being unable to keep filming, the plot of the film actually coincides with shooting locations. Namely, Italy was meant to be the primary filming location for this upcoming entry to the series.
The main plot of the upcoming action film was meant to take place in Italy, but they didn’t get through all of the necessary filming they needed. Italy being the main focus of the plot obviously makes it an essential filming location, and this pandemic makes it difficult to pick up production even at a later date. Especially if they want to start as soon as possible, they will have to think about their moves going forward and what their best possible option would be. This is turning out to be a huge issue, since now one of the decisions is just to remove the Italy part from the film entirely. As stated, with Italy being an essential part of the film’s plot, this could end up presenting a few different issues.
Even if travel begins to open back up again when things start going back to normal, the issue exists where other prime filming locations might open sooner. This could mean that it might end up being a more prime financial opportunity for the production to just pick up somewhere else. This also means, though, that the script might also have to be adjusted to accommodate for these new changes. On top of that, we could also see major story changes for the following film as well which could change the way the entire franchise is moved forward, production and all. This is all so that the film can move forward with production.
With the Covid-19 pandemic going on, the entertainment industry has taken a hit and has been trying to figure out how they are going to recover. One of the biggest ways they figured out how to do this is straight-to-digital releases for films. This is currently helping production companies recoup costs on films that are finished but can’t be played in theaters. However, this virus is wildly unpredictable and could have long-lasting, unforeseen consequences which are now starting to show themselves. The starting part of this being the long delays being put on movie productions and not just releases.
Delays in mind, the obvious answers in peoples minds are whether digital releases would just pay off more at the moment and in the future. If companies wait too long, then they might miss out on an opportunity to have their film out there and making money earlier. This would also keep release schedules from getting backed up by clearing more openings for film releases. Numbers are on the rise for companies right now as well because streaming services are pushing pretty good numbers for them and their movies. Is what’s happening now even relevant to how things are going to play out when the time comes for theaters to re-open?
The answer to this can actually vary and is open to speculation until the time comes, but for now the most likely answer is that it won’t help companies to stay to this straight-to-digital format. They are going to have to return to the theatrical release format when the time comes. For now, this format works because people are stuck at home with nothing else to do and unfortunately many people are unemployed at the moment. This, of course, inflates the numbers that they are seeing when they look at the number of people who are watching their movies and will affect the industry going forward.
Even after this pandemic ends and we are looking at the dust settle, we, and production companies, will look and see the numbers still inflated. Unemployment will not simply end when this does, and we will most likely see the worst of everything after the pandemic ends. So while companies like WarnerMedia might see this as a change to the release format that could be permanent, it could just be something that will need to exist for awhile until unemployment numbers drop. Until then, perhaps this is the way forward, but it is not going to be the best way.
Movie productions have been drastically altered in both structure and time tables during this pandemic. Film production, for all intents and purposes, almost doesn’t exist right now. Filming is just something that cannot happen because the amount of people on sets is dangerous for contagion reasons. This has been a problem thus far because movies slated for release late this year or next year have been delayed as well as finished films awaiting theatrical release. With this in mind, sequels, or films that are a part of a larger universe, are being pushed further into the development schedule.
We pretty much knew that this would end up being the issue when production companies started listing off delays. For instance, now that DC films are being pushed back, as well as their production schedules, we are seeing sequels getting much later release dates than they normally would. Movies are going to have changing times tables for the next couple of years as a result of all of this mess. One example of this is the title of this article, Shazam 2, because now there is a delay with all DCEU films which is similar to so many other companies. The delays stack up and eventually they are delayed exponentially which is what we see now.
So now, with delays like this growing longer, what can really be done in order to make sure that we aren’t going to have to wait forever for these films? One of the best answers to that is to try and take care of ourselves, keep the virus contained the way it is starting to be now, and deal with the delays in place. Many of these delays are put out there because it is to preemptively tell people that these films are not going to be out for awhile. In reality, the sooner all of this is dealt with, the sooner we will see these films hit theaters, these delayed dates are just a way to let us know it will be awhile before they release.
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