Blockbusters Streaming
Metadata
- Blockbusters Streaming
- January 24, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script Blockbusters Streaming HEADLINE: To Stream or Not to Stream? Blockbusters and the Pandemic TEASER: Marvel tentpoles rule the box office, but the success of new films debuting on streaming services is not as easily determined PUBLISHED: 1/20/2022 at 8:30 BYLINE: Penelope Poulou DATELINE: Washington PRODUCER: Penelope Poulou SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, Bowman VIDEO SOURCE (S) Zoom; Warner Bros. Pictures; Sony; Walt Disney Pictures PLATFORMS: WEB __X RADIO __ TRT: 3:24 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: [[Penelope confirms she used Zoom properly.]] ((INTRO)) [[Just as studios were resuming theatrical releases at the end of last year, the omicron variant rolled in, forcing a return to streaming or a theater release-streaming hybrid. Now that the traditional way of viewing new releases has changed, the film industry faces a crucial question: In the era of COVID-19, how does one measure box office success? Penelope Poulou has more.]] ((NAT SOUND)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((b-roll)) ((NARRATOR)) Spider-Man: No Way Home has surpassed all expectations at the box office. According to Forbes.com, the third installment in the Spider-Man franchise — with Tom Holland, Zendaya and Benedict Cumberbatch — has grossed a whopping $1.63 billion worldwide since its theatrical release in December, making it Sony’s biggest movie of all time. The film has yet to be released in China. Variety’s awards editor Clayton Davis says there is more than one reason why this Spider-Man is a hit. ((Clayton Davis, Variety)) ((Mandatory cg: Zoom)) ((00:25:18-00:26:28)) "You don't pull in two hundred and sixty million dollars in an opening weekend and it's just kids. There's no way. I think everybody came out for it because people were sick of being home." ((Richard Craig, George Mason University)) ((Mandatory cg: Zoom)) ((15:32)) “People were going with the expectation that this is going to be a great experience to see on the big screen, with the big surround sound coming at you. … ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((12:09)) … You expect the production quality to be good. You expect the acting to be good.” ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((NARRATOR)) Richard Craig, associate professor of communication at George Mason University, also attributes Spider-Man’s box office success to its multigenerational fan audience. ((Richard Craig, George Mason University)) ((Mandatory cg: Zoom)) “A lot of people like myself grew up on Spider-Man, and now you have new generations. My son is a Spider-Man fan. We had three recent adaptations of Spider-Man. So, it crosses a lot of different lines in terms of who we are as people.” ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((NARRATOR)) According to Insider.com, the top three box office hits last year were all Marvel tentpoles. Spider-Man: No Way Home, ((Mandatory Courtesy: Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings/Walt Disney Pictures)) ((b-roll)) Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and ((Mandatory Courtesy: Venom: Let There Be Carnage/Sony Pictures)) Venom: Let there be Carnage. All had theater-only releases despite the fluctuating pandemic. ((Mandatory Courtesy: The Matrix Resurrections/Warner Bros. Pictures)) On the other hand, highly anticipated films such as Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections ((Mandatory Courtesy: Dune/Warner Bros. Pictures)) and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune had hybrid releases in theaters and streaming platforms and seem to have underperformed at the box office. According to Variety.com, Denis Villeneuve blames Dune’s lackluster performance on Warner Bros.' decision to do a hybrid release. But Angela Watercutter of Wired.com says there is no single metric to determine whether a film did well on a theater-streaming hybrid because it is not clear how many people have watched at home, where some people share video streaming services, ((Mandatory Courtesy: VPN Mentor) while others might view the copyrighted films on "torrenting" sites that provide them for free, a practice often associated with piracy. ((Mandatory Courtesy: The Matrix Resurrections/Warner Bros. Pictures)) ((b-roll)) ((I have added this courtesy)) Richard Craig says Hollywood will have to find new ways to measure success and secure profit from streaming because, he believes, streaming is here to stay, especially since movie theaters cost money to operate, especially during the pandemic. ((Richard Craig, George Mason University)) ((Mandatory cg: Zoom)) ((00:17:54 - 00:18:59)) “Even after COVID, does it make more sense for them to funnel us into theaters and force us to only have access to these films for seven to eight weeks in this particular spot? ... ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((b-roll)) ...Or is it more profitable for them to allow us to watch it at our leisure, whether that be through subscription or some sort of advertising property market mechanism that they create?" ((NAT SOUND)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: Spider-Man: No Way Home/Sony Pictures)) ((NARRATOR)) That remains to be seen for an industry in flux. ((Penelope Poulou VOANEWS))
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date January 24, 2022 14:55 EST
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English