The start of the year had been looking a little tough for the entertainment industry, the lockdowns issued as a cause of the pandemic saw many cinemas and theatres closing their doors with some uncertainty around when they may reopen as guidance around safe measures for preventing the spread of the virus were constantly changing – there were fears that even after opening their doors once again, the customers may not return through fears of being in a confined space with large groups of other people.
Other parts of the entertainment industry, particularly in gaming, were able to thrive off of this however. Many online gambling at betting sites for example saw a surge in new users as they turn to their mobile devices for different forms of entertainment, and despite efforts being made through regulation to curb this growth through initiatives and regulation such as Gamstop, a growing number of operators were able to skirt the rules a little as services such as Gambling Sites Not on Gamstop provided the increasing number of players with sites to play on.
The worries may have been short lived though, as one of the big blockbusters set to release this year in Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” has shown the public are eager to get back to some sense of ‘normal’ – finding a $53 million overseas opening and topping all territories charts for its release is particularly impressive when considering the current situation we’re in – the title is also receiving some very good reviews, sitting at 74% on popular rating site Rotten Tomatoes.
There are still challenges to come however, the release of Disney’s Mulan directly to video-on-demand could still see change in the industry and widespread success here could lead to many other studios forgoing a box office release in favour of a streamed content release. Whilst many have attributed the differences seen to the current circumstances, there are many who believe that whilst the change may not be now, it could be inevitable that a more permanent shift to direct online releases becomes more common.
The latter months of the year could prove to be a test themselves too, experts have warned that globally the risk of the pandemic continuing or finding a new wave will be increased throughout what would be the typical flu season, if many countries are forced to go back into lockdown and we see the closure of these institutions once again, it may be likely that the recent success won’t be enough to allow many to bounce back as many have been vocal about the dire situation they’re already in.
(Image from techradar.com)
There are still some highly anticipated releases yet to come – one of the biggest being Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” still slated for a holiday release on December 18, set to be one of the biggest movies of the year too many will be holding out hope that not only does it stick to its current release schedule where many have been delayed, but also that the cinemas and theatres remain open long enough for the experience to be had.
