The Digital World Has Changed Everything Including Movies

by Kevin Gardner

If you have attended a motion picture in an actual movie theater recently, chances are you smelled hot buttered popcorn the instant you came through the front door. That aroma is about the only thing that has not changed about the movies in the last few years. Most of these major changes are the result of streaming services that are snatching up major Hollywood and independent movies as soon as they are released by studios. Some might say it was the pandemic that caused these developments. 

However, changes were already in progress before Covid-19. By 2019, only 14% of Americans were regularly going to the theater. That same year, streaming services took in $46 billion while movie theaters brought in $40 billion. You might ask, how exactly has streaming changed the film industry?

Streaming May Help Movie Crews Continue to Get Paid

Most moviemakers, including the actors as well as the folks behind the camera, do not actually work for the studios that produce and release movies. For this reason, they are considered contractors. Once their portion of a movie has concluded, they receive full payment for their work. While union scale for movie crews is gracious, they are not regular employees. 

One positive change brought about by streaming is that some streaming services, like HBO, not only pay the actors and executives for a month or more after a film premiers on their channel but continue to pay the crew as well.  As a crew member, because you are not a regular employee, sometimes you may have difficulty getting a mortgage or even a credit card when you have to show proof of income. Fortunately, there are digital workarounds you can use when dealing with lenders and creditors.

Paydays Diminish For Actors

There was a time when actors were under contract to a movie studio and received a weekly salary regardless of what movie they were making or how well it did at the box office. In 1919, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith founded a new studio, United Artists, with the intention that actors control their own careers and benefit from the box office. This shift eventually brought about the downfall of the studio system and contributed to the phenomenal paydays top actors received. Eventually, stars and directors were able to leverage a portion of a movie's proceeds as well. 

Streaming has dramatically changed that in two ways. First, movies spend less time in theaters, which impacts the total amount of an actor's percentage. Second, if a movie goes straight to streaming services, as most do, there is no box office percentage for the stars.

Theaters Have Shifted Their Operating Models

Many changes have happened in your local theater as a result of streaming services:

• Contractual agreements between the studios and theater chains have been rewritten to allow movies to jump quickly to streaming. Large theater chains have managed to maintain more control than small ones.

• Theaters are furnished differently with fewer screens, adjustable chairs and similar amenities. Viewers are allowed to select their seats, often days ahead of the actual film they will be viewing.

• Theater chains have resorted to loyalty subscriptions, offering their regular customers deals on tickets and concessions.

• Many theaters have added meeting rooms and advertise themselves as venues for different types of parties.

Streaming Has Even Altered the Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that sponsors the Oscars, officially proclaims that movies are meant to be watched in theaters. Having said that, the Academy has made several changes in recent years to allow streaming movies to be fully considered for Oscars. Films only have to be shown in theaters (in Los Angeles) for no more than one week. 

This is not to say that everyone is happy about the shift to the small screen. Many viewers feel that movies were intentionally created to be watched on the big screen, which may be why people keep buying larger flat-screen TVs.