The future of theaters is uncertain, something that's evident from today's news that Black Widow has been pushed to next May. 2020 is likely to grow even more sparse over the coming weeks, as it's easy to imagine the likes of No Time to Die and Soul being similarly delayed as COVID-19 worsens.
While the hope was that things would return to normal by now, we always knew there was a risk the virus would worsen in the Fall/Winter, and that sadly seems to be the case thus far.
Needless to say, the next few months will hit theaters hard, and there's a chance they won't be able to survive what comes next. Director and actor Ben Affleck has an opinion on the matter, though, and recently explained to Entertainment Weekly why he believes the pandemic will ultimately lead to the only movies on the big screen being ones that would be considered "blockbusters."
"I think after COVID, movies like The Town, movies like Argo, all the movies I made would effectively end up on streamers, There will probably be like 20 to 25 movies a year that are distributed and they’ll all be big IP movies, whether it’s the type of movies that Disney makes like Aladdin or Star Wars or Avengers, something where you can count on the low-end being half a billion dollars worth of business.
"And I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for dramas and sort of mid-budget movies like [The Town] to get theatrical distribution. You’ll either see massive, massive movies getting huge wide-scale distribution or small movies doing little prestige releases in a few theaters but mostly being shown on streamers. I think that’s for better or worse, and you can draw your own conclusions, but that would be my best guess about the direction of the movie business just based on what I’m seeing now and experiences I’m having trying to get stuff made."
The Justice League star makes a lot of valid points here, and it does seem likely that this is going to lead to a major shift in how theaters and movie studios do business. As of right now, it's clear that the latter aren't willing to send blockbusters to streaming services or PVOD platforms, but for smaller titles - like the upcoming Love and Monsters - that's a great way to make sure they're seen.
Time will tell how things pan out, but we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!