Home » Entertainment » America is heading for the stream, Czechs are fighting for cinemas. How has coronavirus changed the film industry? – ČT24 – Czech Television

America is heading for the stream, Czechs are fighting for cinemas. How has coronavirus changed the film industry? – ČT24 – Czech Television

One of the things that the coronavirus pandemic has changed is the established rules of film release. When cinemas around the world began to close gradually with the first wave of spring in March, Universal’s studio responded most flexibly. It had smaller titles in cinemas at the time, such as the horror film The Invisible Man or the thriller Hunting, but quickly made it available through VOD (so-called video on demand), so viewers, especially in America, could watch it at home. But it was not enough for Universal.

In April, the company completely “skipped” cinemas and released the big-budget animated film Trolls: World Tour directly on VOD platforms. Universal did not please the experienced cinema owners, who were already counting huge losses at the time – and relied on an agreement that the studios would not release films on the Internet until after 90 days in cinemas. But this “window” limits the pandemic – Universal even agreed with the US cinema operator AMC in the summer that it will be able to make films available for digital release as early as 17 days after its premiere.

But what works in America may not be true in the Czech Republic. “The American market is very different from the Czech market. In the Czech Republic, the share of cinemas in film sales is 90 percent, digital 10 percent. In the USA, the digital market is sometimes around 60 percent, “said producer Vratislav Šlajer for ČT24.

According to him, the studios will behave differently on the domestic market when planning premieres and differently, for example, in Europe, where the cinema is still planning to distribute films that premiered in America only on digital platforms.

Back in the spring, it might also have seemed that the emphasis on VOD premieres or streaming would be overrun by a pandemic. Gradually, however, it became apparent that it could be a defining trend for the future, especially in America. In the spring, all the big blockbusters, such as No Time to Die, Black Widow, Mulan or Top Gun 2, began to be postponed (so that they could be postponed again in the autumn during the second wave). But studios in the United States are increasingly relying on cinemas. And the best ones are those that have their own streaming platforms.

Warner Bros. heading with the whole premier plan to stream

In September, Disney unexpectedly released a feature remake of the animated film Mulan on its Disney + platform for a special fee, which cost him $ 200 million. Interiors have so far debated whether it was a success or not, but Mulan reportedly did not earn more than 100 million from the digital release. If you add $ 70 million from open cinemas around the world, including the Czech Republic, it’s still a loser to which Disney isn’t very used to its titles.

The numbers are embarrassing, even though the company didn’t have to share that much money with the cinemas, and it also saved on advertising that will cost tens of millions of dollars in the case of blockbusters. The fact that such big movies from the stream are not worthwhile, but the studios began to look a little different.

Mulan (as well as Pixar Soul’s animated film) serves as an advertisement for the Disney + platform, which the studio has already announced as a priority. In addition, in mid-December, it presented shareholders with a grand prime minister’s plan, which largely concerns the service just mentioned. The future is serial: there will be ten series from the world of Star Wars, a similar number of serial comics from Marvel, and from the films, for example, the new Petr Pan, Pinocchio or the third Sister in Action. But Disney didn’t announce the move of big movies like Black Widow, Eternals or Free Guy to the stream.

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Video of Exclusive Clip | Loki | Disney+


The Warner Bros. studio, which stated in a shocking announcement at the beginning of December that all its films, including the biggest ones such as Duna, Matrix 4, Godzilla vs. Godzilla vs. Kong, or the previously announced second Wonder Woman, will perform simultaneously in cinemas and on stream. This means such a large breakdown of the experienced distribution model that, according to observers, it will irreversibly damage cinemas. However, the company said in a statement that it would try this step only for one year, when cinemas in America are closed or people are afraid to go to them.-


Distribution of films by Warner Bros. in the Czech Republic provided by Vertical Entertainment. Its boss Anca Sorina Truta wrote to ČT24 that the decision will not affect the distribution of Warner Bros. films. in the Czech Republic. However, the HBO Max service, which falls under the parent company Warner Bros., should be launched in the Czech Republic in the second half of next year.

According to Šlajer, Warner Bros. needs to be taken. from another perspective. “In the context of streaming company wars and trying to get as many HBO Max subscribers as possible in competition with Netflix and Disney +. I would not be afraid to label their move as dumped. It is a loss-making step for them, which will have a long-term effect in increasing the number of subscribers, “they think.

Jan Bradáč, head of the CineStar multiplex cinema, who also runs the Falcon distribution company, is also careful. According to him, a change for the whole market cannot be deduced from the decision of one study. “How much the prospects for 2021 are still in the stars and the reopening of worldwide cinema distribution is still unknown, so there are a number of titles on offer next year on which to build an interesting business perspective. I don’t think that all the other studios will behave like Warner Bros., and if they do, they will not move all their major films to streaming platforms, “he told ČT24.

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Video of Trailer na film Wonder Woman 1984



But filmmakers have already lost several such great films. And it is often very attractive content. This happens, for example, with titles purchased by Netflix, such as the currently Oscar-winning Chicago Tribunal, or another children’s film, SpongeBob. These films were sold to him by the Paramount studio, which would otherwise probably send them to cinemas. However, the new Apple TV + service is similarly “expanding”, which in the spring bought the rights to a war film with Tom Hanks Greyhound for $ 70 million from the Sony studio. Its production cost $ 20 million less.

Only one big blockbuster tried it in cinemas this summer

How much the pandemic will change the distribution of films is illustrated by the information that the producers of the new bond were considering selling the film on Netflix or Apple TV + and wanted $ 600 million from one or the other company, which allegedly discouraged both entities. At the same time, however, it proves that the really biggest films like Bond, Dune or Avatar 2 still need hundreds of millions of dollars in sales from the global theatrical release in cinemas, including Chinese ones, to pay.

In September, at the time of the breath between the waves of the pandemic, one film still tried it. Christopher Nolan’s feature film Tenet was the only blockbuster this year that went only to theaters. He made $ 357 million against a budget of 200 million, but it was less than $ 60 million from a limited number of American cinemas. So Tenet definitely didn’t pay off from cinemas, he would need to earn 700 million for that, yet he is not perceived as a failure during the atypical season. But he only showed that big films like No Time to Die, Eternals or Death on the Nile have to wait for a more favorable situation.

By the way, Teneta director Christopher Nolan has already managed to sharply defend himself against the decision of Warner Bros. send great movies to stream. And in December, Dune director Dennis Villeneuve joined his criticism. In the current step of the studio, he sees damage to filmmakers and actors, with whom the step was allegedly not consulted. Production partner Legendary, which largely financed the production of the films Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong has already fenced himself off. It is said that the Warner Bros. plan learned half an hour before the press release.

Czech cinemas traditionally hold Czech films. Even during a pandemic

But if 2020 has a winner in the film industry, it’s Netflix’s online video, with 200 million subscribers. In addition, its content manages to continuously break into social debates, as happened to the Lord of the Tigers dessert this spring, and in the autumn with the miniseries Dámský gambit or Koruna. Of the cinemas this year, only Tenet became the event, and of the Czech ones, Havel and Šarlatán, which were successfully released during the summer break-up. The share of Czech films is stably in domestic cinemas between 20 and 30 percent, which puts us at the top of Europe.

“So even if the American premieres are postponed, the offer of Czech films may attract visitors. It was also visible this summer, when the cinemas opened between the first and second wave, “adds Šlajer. According to him, Czech films kept attendance, and before the closures of cinemas in October, strong titles such as Bábovky, Princess Enchanted in Time or Smečka had their premiere.


So far, Czech cinemas have a much stiffer root than they might seem in relation to the stream. In the Czech Republic, in the record year of 2019, 18.3 million spectators came to cinemas, which is the highest number since 1994. “The first quarter of 2020, before covid came in March, was again growing. So we are not afraid that the audience will not come to Czech cinemas, “says Šlajer.

He also talks about research, according to which subscribers to streaming services go to the cinema more and vice versa. “Cinemas and streaming do not necessarily stand against each other, they can complement each other very well,” he says.

Tens of thousands of tests on covid on a dinosaur field

But it’s not just studios and filmmakers whose work the coronavirus is changing. Filmmakers also had to readjust their work processes. The coronavirus stopped hundreds of shootings, the biggest of which were to clear out the Berlin space of the fourth Matrix, the seventh Mission: Impossible or the Marvel studio series, of which the thriller The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was shot in the Czech Republic.

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Video of Exclusive First Look | The Falcon and the Winter Soldier | Disney+


The filmmakers gradually returned to work, but it was often uncertain – for example, when she became ill with a covid-19 main star, such as Robert Pattinson, who plays the new Batman in the film of the same name. However, one shooting was by far the most complicated.

The third Jurassic World, subtitled Dominion, was the first blockbuster to return to production in the summer after having to stop filming in March. And again, Universal Studio was there. The staff of hundreds of people in the British Pinewood studios was divided into groups that were not allowed to meet, while the actors, the director and the narrowest staff were completely isolated. They all came to the square through frames that measured the temperature, and about 40,000 tests on covid were performed during the entire filming. Around a hundred tests were to return the positive ones, but the film finished at the end of November. Anti-anti-AIDS measures were to cost the studio about $ 8 million.

It can be expected that some of the similar measures will continue to accompany the shooting of films even after the beginning of vaccination, which will burden the film’s budgets even more, writes Variety magazine, for example.

The pandemic has also changed film festivals, the largest of which, apart from Venice, have not taken place this year or have become digital – and the January Sundance Festival is also planning this version.

This is one of the reasons why experts point out that films will be shown on more platforms in the coming months according to the epidemiological situation, while cinemas in America may no longer play a role, but as Czech film associations emphasize in a recent document the whole industry, to which both production and distribution are linked. In the Czech Republic, this is all the more true due to the temporary absence of a robust VOD market.

“Above all, we need the government to allow us to reopen as soon as possible. We are ready to operate our cinemas even in a limited mode with significantly reduced capacity and preserved consumption during film screenings. I am definitely convinced that people will return to the cinemas, because they have never really disappeared from them, “Bradáč thinks. However, the film industry will probably never return to the same paths after coronavirus.

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