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There are plenty of companies and groups that have had to make compromises when it came to adapting to the world’s quarantine. Some studios adjusted to this fact by forgoing theatrical releases entirely. The result of which was the fact that they instead ended up releasing them to VOD. With plans to release other films to VOD, there are not as many films that will see theatrical releases this year. So with less films in theaters, there was a concern that there would not be as many options to pick from during the academy awards season next year. Seeing as how this pandemic may be going for awhile, it is understandable that this may be a concern for some.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences made the decision that they would allow films to be nominated even if they forgo theatrical releases. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise since, not only is the world complicated right now, but streaming is becoming a large part of the industry. Independent films are becoming a larger part of the industry via streaming services and they are deserving of the awards. To show that to some degree, some actors and actresses as well as some films themselves ended up nominated this past year despite mostly being streamed films.

In order for the more award inclined films to be nominated for any kind of awards, they had to have some kind of theatrical showing first. So, while films were nominated that had mostly been streamed, at some point they had to have some kind of theatrical showing. In order to make things fair for films that are simply trying their best during uncertain times, The Academy decided that no matter what, films could be nominated. This could be a change for the industry as a whole, or this could be a one-off scenario that we’ll almost certainly never see again. If it is a change for the industry, then it is one being fought in multiple ways right now.

Theater companies, and more specifically AMC and Regal, have decided to go against Universal Studios. This comes from the fact that Universal wants to put a lot more effort into releasing films straight to VOD, while also giving films theatrical releases. Needless to say, the theater chains are not happy with this turn of events and have decided not to show Universal films when they finally do re-open. Universal is currently doing what others have been deciding on in order to keep their schedules from jamming and to ensure that they can get their films out on time. The industry is being heavily affected by the virus and some of these changes just might be permanent, but there is no way of telling until theaters re-open properly.