Help? What's all the competing noise about streamers versus movie theaters and the upset from the pandemic requirements?

Question

You don't know where you are going to be able to see a movie that sounds good during this surging and waxing pandemic. It seems like every day or at least every week, movie distributors try a new and different way to release their movie. Remember just 2 years ago, watching a movie on a streamer at home was after the movie had had a good run in a movie theater. Then streaming the movie was considered a secondary market. Now - what conditions are determing your choice - two seats away and wearing a mask versus being comfy at home but not getting the big screen buzz, particularly with the 'tent-pole pictures." Let's demystify the decisions...

Answer 1

In the panic that settled on the business at the outset of the pandemic lockdowns, streamers looked pretty good. At least the streamers would pay the filmmakers/studios/distributors for the right to play the film (made and paid for before the pandemic) for audiences. But the adage "Time will tell" has given way to the chaos showing up now. Streamers are buying films for their subscribers or to attract subscribers. The movie theaters are selling individual tickets - the box office figures on which many deals with above-the-line "players" are figured. Scarlett Johansen (read her 'people') just sued a distributor for taking a Streamer deal and cutting her out of a system that didn't use Box Office to rate appeal to viewers. They are scurrying to try to accomodate a system based on Box Office in a system (Streaming) that NEVER has told how much they pay for a purchase of a film. Some distributors are trying a mix of types of release - 3 weeks to 10 weeks exclusively in theaters, then release on streamers? Trying certain types of films in one market or the other (hard to figure out, because the pandemic effect changes.) The film industry is trying hard to make it equitable but in the meantime you , the customer, have to put up with the switches until the pandemic recedes. It's important to understand the structure of your business to make informed decisions about your career.