OPINION: Watching movies is just not what it used to be

Nov 17, 2022 | OP-ED

The pandemic changed the way many of us lived. Mundane things like work and school became unrecognizable with the world essentially shut down.

In this new world, one thing that has changed and remains changed is the way we watch movies.

What was once an event experienced at the local theatre has now become a relaxing stretch on the couch, lazily pressing play in the latest streaming exclusive release.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2020, the operating profit margin for the motion picture industry had lost 42.4 per cent. Before this, the industry’s profit margin had remained positive at a 14.6 per cent average since 2014.

Most recently, the first Avatar movie was re-released in a limited time of two weeks ahead of the premiere of the sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water that’s expected to drop later this year.

Re-releases, especially of a movie that was released more than 10 years ago, aren’t something that usually happens. However, because of the lack of movies being made for theatre there were enough time slots to fit in that re-release.

Streaming services provided a safer way to watch films during the peak of COVID-19, but there’s no denying that streaming has taken away what makes the experience of seeing a movie so special.

A newer format being adopted is the simultaneous release of movies on streaming services and in theatres on the same day.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) theme report for 2021 reported the global market for theatrical and home entertainment combined was $99.7 billion.

In addition, the MPA report said 72 per cent of the combined theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market came from the digital market. There was also an 18 per cent increase overall in the digital home/mobile entertainment market.

It seems as if many viewers are starting to adopt this mindset of “why travel to the theatre when I can watch this movie at my own place?”

Take Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was released on May 6, but was released on Disney+ about a month later on June 22.

The 2022 Elvis biopic earned a 12-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and generated a lot of buzz prior to its release on June 2022. Despite all the excitement surrounding the movie, it was later released on HBOMax in the United States and on Crave in Canada on Sept. 2.

Netflix’s shareholder letter gets published at the end of each quarter and its end of Q4 letter in 2020 summed up the streaming service’s success during the peak of the pandemic.

Netflix reported making $25 billion in annual revenue, and it’s operating profit grew 76 per cent to $4.6 billion.

Streaming is on the rise now more than ever before and while there are benefits, movies aren’t something that was designed for streaming.

Between visual effects and sound, it’s become clear that movies were never meant to be for TV screens. It’s something that was designed to be shown on the biggest screen possible, surrounded by people all there for the same reason.

Streaming services have slowly started to diminish this sense of community that theatre culture brought. There’s no denying that the way we watch movies is evolving with the rest of our technology but we need to consider is whether it’s worth the evolution.