This column kneels before no one when it comes to gloom and doom. If the apocalypse lays waste to this industry any time soon, you all know who will be in the front of the line to say: I told you so!
And yet, as much as the end of the world makes for a compelling tale, in a sprawling complicated industry like this, it can’t all be bad. Here and there amongst this gathering of creative spirits, a little light and courage pokes through.
In the spirit of the holiday season, I wanted to close out the year, having thoroughly reviewed Hollywood’s low moments, with a nod or two to some of its better ones — the things that made me, laugh, smile, touched my heart, eased the load and gave me a little hope this year. A few of my favorite Hollywood things from 2022.
Fear not, we’re not going to have many cream-colored ponies nor crisp apple strudels on the list. Good in Hollywood is usually what you’d call, doing slightly less bad. But baby steps should be celebrated, as should dogs that didn’t bark, trees that didn’t fall.
Without further ado, and hopefully with the minimum possible sleighbells and schnitzel with noodles, here are a few of my favorite things from Hollywood 2022.
1. Movies Didn’t Die
As 2021 ended with a delta variant bang, the dominant narrative was that cinema was reeling from a body blow from which it would never recover.
Much of this was pushed by tech/Wall Street streaming fanboys who were anxious to see the crusty old theatrical business model ride off into the sunset, in favor of a glimmering, data-rich digital future. Headlines and articles like this which earlier saluted Jason Kilar’s Project Popcorn not as a temporary emergency measure, but the shining path forward.
But even setting digital/financial hoopla aside, there was plenty of cause for despair. The film industry had suffered from a shutdown like no industry had ever seen. The streamers riding high on oceans of funding were firmly at the culture’s center.
There was plenty of reason to wonder whether this 100-year tradition had reached its end.
A year later, the proposition that people will never see another movie again in a theater, has been dispatched. Theatrical’s problem seems to be a lack of supply, rather than lack of demand. The power of a theatrical release to elevate a film’s stature and profile — something that was sneered at a year ago — is now an article of faith. What size the ultimate audience will be and what films they’ll turn out for is still TBD.
But at the very least the movie business lives to fight another year.
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