Just over two weeks ago, on March 2, The Ankler thought out loud about possible scenarios here and offered up:
Say you’re the CEO of a certain telephone or cable company for instance, and you’ve spent the last year seething about your theatrical arm—the terrible low-margin business and the intransigence of the theater owners. Then suddenly a health emergency comes along that forces you—for the public good, mind you!—not to release your films in theaters.
But lo and behold, you know what could help cheer up the world in these horrible times? If you were willing to take the hit to your expected box-office tallies (the hit that you don’t really have a choice but to take) . . . as it turns out, your conglomerate happens to have a brand new streaming service .. . that could let people watch these brand new blockbuster movies from the comfort—and safety!—of their own homes. Like now!
Why, it would be a service to humanity to give them this entertainment right now, priced at a special introductory pandemic tier they can afford, of course. No gouging here . . . .
When I wrote that, I was being glib about how these decisions would play out and the corporate response, and after the words were out, on reflection, the scenario I offered—that major tentpole features would be withdrawn from theatrical calendars and offered front and center for streaming—seemed, at second glance, so preposterous, that in the next issue I all but apologized for my wild-eyed, fantastical thinking.
Yet here we are, through the looking glass, over the rainbow, pick your metaphor for a world we would’ve never believed possible just two weeks, or even a week ago.
Over the past decade, we’ve all put in a lot of time wondering how and when and by what forces the theatrical window would be smashed, and I feel safe in saying that no one predicted it would end like this.
Make no mistake, now that it’s gone, and after the other studios follow, it is not coming back. There is no way that whatever is left of the theater owners when this is all over are putting this genie back in any bottle.
As I noted in the last issue, for a long time now, a lot of smart people have said we need day-and-date flexible pricing, and it’s worth risking the golden (if tattered goose) of theatrical over. Now we’ll find out if they were right.
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