April 29, 2020 | Malik Giles | campus editor
Movie companies have pushed their releases back and postponed or canceled production due to the spread of COVID-19. When the country reopens, the ways of releasing films should change, and movie theaters should be replaced with drive-in theaters while production companies should stream their releases on-demand faster.
Movie theaters have always been unsanitary. Everyone’s had at least one time when they’ve experienced sitting down in a stinky seat or a 4-year-old sitting right behind one’s seat, kicking it.
Drive-in theaters should be considered the obvious solution. It preserves the six-foot social distancing rule by having people stay in their cars.
It is not loud when funny scenes during the movie occur, and no children are pounding on anyone’s seats.
Movie companies can release their movies straight to streaming platforms. During the outbreak, Netflix has slightly surpassed Disney in stocks. Throughout the years, Netflix has also increased its prices for subscriptions. New movies have been releasing every week ever since the country has been shut down, and their marketshare has been high.
Disney+ did an early release of their animated movie, “Onward” in response to theaters being closed down. The movie only spent two weeks in theaters prior to its digital release. Disney also had to push back movies such as “Black Widow” and postpone other movie productions due to shutdowns.
Disney+ is $5.99 per month, comparable to Netflix when it launched. Should Disney decide to raise prices of Disney+ and release movies like “Black Widow” right away, their streaming platform could make as much money as Netflix.
The majority of the world loves movies to the point that movie companies should consider different ways of releasing their movies for the safety of their audiences.
Whether the moviegoing culture shifts to more drive-in theaters or streaming platforms, companies will have to think of something to get their movie out to audiences during the new normal.
