The entertainment industry is one of the big losers from the Corona crisis. The pandemic has also turned many things upside down in Hollywood. A balance sheet for the film year 2020.
By Katharina Wilhelm, ARD Studio Los Angeles
Working in a film may have sounded adventurous, glamorous so far – but essential? “We are now an essential workforce,” says Alma Diffie. “And that means most of Hollywood’s working now.”
Diffie is a make-up artist – and one of the thousands of workers who have been classified as important, essential workers in California since November. The new status makes it easier for productions to organize shoots. Because actually larger gatherings of people, especially in Los Angeles, should be prevented.
The dream factory has been working again since late summer – under the strictest conditions. It is compulsory to wear a mask, tests are carried out regularly, entire laboratories have been set up in the parking lots of the Hollywood studios in order to get operations running again.
Tom Cruise loses his composure
How tense the situation is becomes clear when you hear Hollywood star Tom Cruise yelling at an employee on the film set for the sequel to “Mission Impossible” who is said to have violated the Corona protocols.
The British newspaper “The Sun” published the sound recording of the breakout. Tom Cruise accuses the film projects of people who have to pay off houses. And he has to justify himself to producers and insurance companies.
Billions in losses
In the US film world, the corona crisis is expected to result in a loss of at least 20 billion US dollars. Not least because many blockbusters in 2020 never saw the light of day.
One of the first big films to be hit by the coronavirus, so to speak, was the new James Bond film “No Time to Die”. At first, Studio Universal was optimistic that the launch could be postponed from spring to fall 2020. The new start date is now April 2021.
Threat to cinemas
The cinemas themselves are one of the big losers of the 2020 cinema year. They had to close in many places, in the film city of Los Angeles they have been closed continuously since March – and at high costs, as the film journalist John Horn from the NPR radio network says.
“They have rents, very high fixed costs, billions in debts, and no money that comes in,” says Horn. “How do you pay that? I think there will be massive closings.”
Risk of mass bankruptcies
AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain, has already announced that it is facing bankruptcy. The United States Cinema Operators Association warned that 70 percent of small to medium-sized operators could go bankrupt without state aid.
And then came a message that shook the industry to its very foundations: The Warner Bros. studio wants to release at least 17 films simultaneously in the cinema and on its own streaming platform HBO Max in 2021. Including blockbusters like the science fiction film “Dune” or the comic adaptation “Suicide Squad”.
The rule that is decades old no longer applies
The normal rule is that cinemas have the exclusive right to show films for at least a few weeks before the studios sell them on other platforms. A decade-old rule – which is suddenly lifted. This is an earthquake of magnitude eight in the industry, says film journalist Horn.
A year ago, the cinemas would have blocked such a step and boycotted Warner Bros. films, but their role is weakened – and it is your own fault, says John Horn.
The cinemas would have “found it difficult to adapt to changes. They were late in buying digital projectors, offering 3D. They were always one step back,” said the Hollywood expert. The industry “decided that streaming is the enemy and no partnership possible”.
Lots of great films for spring?
The film year 2021 will be different. Because many films have been postponed, cinema fans could possibly count on a rich selection from spring or mid-2021. For example the Marvel movie “Black Widow” with Scarlett Johansson, a sequel to “Top Gun” with Tom Cruise.
This year Hollywood has changed – and many developments will not be reversed. But it is not yet clear when normality will return, when one will work without a mask, gloves and protective goggles, says make-up artist Alma Diffie. In any case, it says: Corona and Hollywood – to be continued.
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