The major actors’ strike of the American union SAG-AFTRA has now been going on for more than two weeks. The consequences are already being felt in the United States. Will that also happen here?
On July 13, approximately 160,000 union members immediately went on strike. In addition to their acting work, the actors do not carry out any promotional work. For now, we don’t see big movie stars like Margot Robbie, George Clooney, Keke Palmer, and Dwayne Johnson in interviews or on red carpets.
Actors went on strike at the same time as screenwriters, who already laid down their work on May 2. New seasons of successful series like The Last of Us, Stranger Things, The Handmaid’s Tale and the Game of Thrones-spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight have already been postponed. And due to the writers’ strike, evening programs such as The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in Jimmy Kimmel Live! not seen for almost three months.
The actors’ strike has now been added to that. The impact of this is immediately visible. On the day the strike was announced, the much-anticipated movie went on Oppenheimer premiered in London. When the actors’ union gave the go-ahead for the strike, they left Oppenheimer actors Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon immediately left the cinema without speaking to the press.
Movies that premiered after that, like the Disney movie Haunted Mansion, had to make do with a red carpet with no movie stars. Film festivals and comics festival Comic Con also see plans fall apart.
The cast was not seen on the red carpet of The Haunted Mansion. Photo: Getty images
Consequences of the strikes for the Netherlands
But what are the consequences of the strikes for the Netherlands? Dutch cinemas and film theaters are highly dependent on American productions. “Between 2017 and 2019 (the regular cinema years before the corona crisis, ed.) 76 percent of ticket sales came from visits to American films and documentaries,” says Eva de Vroome of Filmdistributeurs Netherlands.
Major Hollywood films attract many visitors and are therefore important for the turnover of cinemas. The postponement of American productions can therefore have a major impact on total ticket sales. That is worrying, because cinemas and art houses have not yet fully recovered from the corona pandemic.
There is no telling how long the strike will last. Chairman Fran Drescher of the SAG-AFTRA trade union is in any case taking into account a strike that will last until the end of the year. “Actors are prepared to make a great personal sacrifice. It’s about our future and being able to provide for a living. That’s why we will continue until companies (producers, film studios and streaming services, ed.) want to sit down with us again” , she said to USA Today.
Those companies do not benefit from a prolonged strike, but seem to be holding their own for the time being. For example, Disney CEO Bob Iger called the expectations of actors “unrealistic”.
Producers anticipate a long strike
In the event of a prolonged strike, Dutch film and series enthusiasts will also suffer. At a certain point, apart from independent productions, there will be no more offers from Hollywood. And we will see that in cinemas and on streaming services. “When the strike is over after the summer, the effect will be minor. But if it lasts longer, we will notice it especially from 2024,” says De Vroome.
Some major US productions are already being moved. Like the sequel to the sci-fi blockbuster Dune. “That film was supposed to be released this fall, but may be moved by the producer to 2024,” says chairman Boris van der Ham of the Dutch Association of Cinemas and Film Theaters. “You can see that a long-term strike is being taken into account and that the release of some Hollywood productions is being considered a little more spread.”
We don’t have to worry that there won’t be any movies in the cinemas at all. “There is always a sufficient supply of films from different countries, so there will be no empty schedules,” says Van der Ham.
“During the corona pandemic, fewer films were released in the US. Because there was less competition from American productions, the Dutch production, among others, The Battle of the Scheldt it is very good.” That could be good news for Dutch films that will be released at the end of this year, such as Bon Bini: Bangkok Nights, Saint Ahoy! in Just like in the Movie.
“But as a cinema you want a diverse range. Moreover, productions from other countries will never completely fill the gap in terms of turnover of the American range,” concludes Van der Ham. “So the strike should certainly not last too long.”
2023-07-29 13:00:20
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