Jason Blum, the founder of Blumhouse, is a producer that not only has found great success at the box office but also with streaming. When he’s not releasing micro-budget films on the big screen, earning hefty profits along the way, Blumhouse is also releasing straight-to-Hulu features as part of its “Into the Dark” anthology, as well as a variety of indie films that go straight to VOD and select theaters. All this to say, Blum knows what he’s talking about when it comes to distributing a film, which is why his comments about the post-COVID-19 (coronavirus) industry are so interesting.
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Speaking on the Ben Shapiro Show (via JoBlo), Blum talked about what he thinks is going to happen to the theatrical business and film industry after we’re finished with COVID-19. Suffice it to say, Blum thinks the industry is on the precipice of massive change.
“I think it’s not realistic to think all the studios are going to wait four months before they put a movie at home,” explained Blum. “They just can’t compete, they’re going to have to compete with Amazon and Netflix and Apple in a different way. There’s going to be shifts. The consumer is going to be more used to staying at home. Something is going to give, there has to be something that’s going to happen post-corona. The movie business will look different after the coronavirus.”
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We’ve already seen steps taken in recent weeks to combat the effect of coronavirus on the movie-going industry, with studios releasing films a lot earlier than anticipated on VOD and the delay of other major films in light of theaters closing. Of course, what Blum is hinting at is the destruction of the theatrical window—the agreement between studios and exhibitors that a film will stay out of streaming and home video release for a certain amount of time after it arrives in theaters.
And the Blumhouse founder continued that train of thought by talking about what he thinks the future of the theatrical business might look like post-COVID-19.
“I don’t think theaters are ever going to go away,” said Blum. “The collective experience of going to a theater and taking in a movie, I think that’s going to be around for a long time. I think there’ll be less movies in theaters, there’ll be less of a selection, or I should say, there’ll be many many fewer movies in theaters with the window, and I think there’ll be many many more movies in theaters, but they only last for a week or two.”
This is in stark contrast to the statements made by the National Association of Theater Owners, who has said that not only will theaters rebound from coronavirus, but will do so in a grand way with a “robust” schedule of releases. The NATO boss even went so far as to call out Universal for its breaking of the theatrical window for “Trolls World Tour” and warned that exhibitors “won’t forget” the betrayal.
Ultimately, we won’t know what the landscape will look like until the dust has settled. At this point, that is likely months away.