Are the Lights in Hollywood Fading?

Staff Writer: Abbey Skouras

Sitting down in front of a big screen with a giant bucket of popcorn and our favorite candy ready to
watch the next summer blockbuster movie is a feeling I am sure we all miss.

Mr. Wagner, Audio and Video teacher at WHS, says, “I miss the atmosphere of the theater including the big screen, the movie popcorn, and just being at the movies.”
When will we be able to have this feeling again in our beloved theaters? When will we see filming of the next big hit? Will the future be setting up our own movie theaters in our living rooms? When our box offices reopen is it worth the risk to go back?

In March, movie theaters across the U.S. had to shut down because of the corona virus. With much consideration, Regal Cinemas decided to reopen back in July showing older movies for a lowered cost.

They had to implement brand new procedures to keep everyone safe. Mask were required and a maximum capacity for each theater was set at 50 percent. For smaller movies theaters this has not been the case; most have decided to sit back and watch to see how things play out for bigger companies. Along with all the precautions brand new movies like Wonder Woman 1984 and Marvel’s Black Widow had to push back their release dates.

Since theaters have started to open movie companies have had to think about when they will start to film again. Directors are questioning if their next movie is worth the risk that comes with it. If filming
started actors and staff would get used to regular Covid-19 testing, quarantining the entire movie production, and a social distance set behind the camera. Along with those safety precautions you are looking at a huge increase in the budget for tests, masks, and so on.

When our local theaters closed, movie companies started to release their new movies on streaming channels for increased pricing. New movies like Mulan and Onward are being released on Disney plus
instead of the theaters. When the shelter-in-place order first started, Netflix reported they had almost doubled their subscribers in the first quarter, adding around 15.77 million new subscribers.

“I love watching movies from home! I get to make my own popcorn and my family buys candy from the store, overall, it’s much cheaper than then going to the movie theater,” says Julia Dougherty, a sophomore at WHS. For streaming channels Covid-19 has been beneficial in increasing subscribers.
Overall, Covid-19 has and is still influencing Hollywood and our favorite movies. Currently, our box offices are open, although we are not seeing any new movies. Filming those new movies are a significant risk right now. While Hollywood is struggling streaming channels like Netflix are doing better than they
ever have