![]() ![]() “As more Americans shift to a strategy of social distancing, we might continue to see increases in how they are connecting to all media,” says Peter Katsingris, SVP Audience Insights at Nielsen.Īt this point, the future of the movie industry remains uncertain. TV-watching has increased in countries that were hit early and hard by coronavirus: South Korea saw a 17% increase in TV viewing, according to Nielsen, and Italy has seen a 12% increase in TV watching in the Lombardy region, the center of the Coronavirus outbreak, according to the Italian Joint Industry Committee, Auditel. That firm’s research has found that during times when people are forced to stay in their homes - say, waiting for a hurricane to pass - they increase the amount of content they watch on TV or streaming by as much as 60%. Meanwhile, Nielsen found a 6% increase in television viewing across America over the weekend and a 13% increase in the use of streaming devices (including streaming sticks and smart TV apps). The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) has asked the federal government for a bailout to support the 150,000 people who work at and for movie theaters during the pandemic. Movie theaters fared better the weekend after September 11 than they are faring now. This past weekend, the box office hit a 20-year low, down 60% from a year ago. The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the industry in ways that are visible to us - stars like Tom Hanks and Idris Elba have tested positive for the virus - and in ways that affect the livelihoods of many other people whose names we will never know as filming and production are delayed or suspended industry-wide. COVID-19 throws movie theaters and studios into crisis mode Other festivals, like Tribeca, have already followed suit, while the fate of Cannes, scheduled to take place in May, hangs in the balance. ![]() The city of Austin, Texas, cancelled SXSW, a major blow to independent filmmakers hoping to launch their careers on the festival circuit and to dozens of SXSW employees who were subsequently laid off. Fast 9 pushed its release date an entire year ahead, while other postponed release dates remain unannounced. Most of the major movies set to premiere in the next few months - Mulan, Fast and Furious 9, A Quiet Place 2 and Black Widow, to name a few - have been delayed. ![]() and Los Angeles have begun to reduce admittance or close outright, studios have begun to scramble. In the following weeks, as movie theaters in major American cities like New York, Washington, D.C. Two weeks ago, producer Barbara Broccoli made what, in retrospect, was the portentous decision to move the next James Bond film, No Time To Die, from its April release date to November in hopes that the virus will be under control by the holiday season. As COVID-19 spread, other countries followed suit. The global box office took its first hit when the Chinese government shut down movie theaters on January 23, dashing the hopes for major international plays like Mulan and Fast and Furious 9 that rely heavily on China’s box office. ![]()
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