Note: This episode was recorded over a week ago, before the current state of affairs. If you have the means, please consider donating to Black Lives Matter and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, among many other organizations, during this time.
It’s a strange, ever-adapting world in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the film industry is no exception.
On this long-delayed episode of The Discourse Podcast (sincere apologies, because, you know, life, parenting, and *gestures at everything*), I’m joined by Playlist Managing Editor Charles Barfield, as well as the former hosts of Playlist Podcast Network program Adjust Your Tracking – Erik McClanahan and Joe von Appen – to discuss the broad, vast topic of the current and future state of theatrical moviegoing.
READ MORE: “Feeling Safe” Isn’t Enough: Reopening Cinemas Should Be Decided By Medical Professionals, Not Marketers
As we all know, movie theaters are aiming to re-open in July, with Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending spy thriller “Tenet” set to kick off a belated summer movie season (and as of this recording, Warner Bros. still has that July 17 release date slotted, though the most recent trailer was vaguer in regards to a release date). We also know that for Warner Bros. to confidently put “Tenet” out into the world, they will need 80% of the world’s theaters to be open, including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We start our discussion here, noting that even while the question of whether or not theaters should open in July and that it would be too early, that’s a daunting logistical task, as each county, state, country, etc. have been affected differently by the virus.
In addition to the topic of theatrical, we also shift our focus to how the industry has been trying to recoup losses in the meantime, experimenting with Premium Video-on-Demand (PVOD) and selling titles to streaming services. We note that none of these measures are completely out of left field. The industry has been heading this way for some time; the pandemic just sped-up the process. We speculate on the type of give-and-take both exhibitors and studios will have to uphold going forward, and how the co-existence of theatrical and digital platforms is possible.
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