Some Insights into the Entertainment in the post-pandemic World
The entertainment will look different from the previous years.
The world opens up as the year begins because of new Corona vaccines and political changes in the U.S and Europe. There will be out-of-home entertainment experiences, including movies, theater, sports and concerts. But COVID-19 remains to be the top concern throughout the year 2021 which means production companies continue to over-prioritize online streaming and gaming.
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus take benefit from these trends, as HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock seek to find other alternatives. Given the frenetic streaming seek for unique content; expect film production companies in Hollywood produce more The Mandalorian like series (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. ) and Star wars episode 10 2021. Last August at D23 Expo, Lucasfilm announced the return of Ewan McGregor in the iconic role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi for a special event series on Disney+. Lando Calrissian will return in a brand-new event series for Disney+. Justin Simien, creator of the critically-acclaimed Dear White People and a huge Star Wars fan, is developing the story.
These mega-players spend their massive film and TV budgets to produce their own differentiated brand of “Must See TV.”
Some opportunistic companies such as Apple, which has underperformed with Apple TV Plus will buy Beats Music when it couldn’t make Apple Music “work” on its own. Amazon will add live news to its other live content and on the music side, expect decimated small clubs and venues to be rolled up.
Media business models continue to evolve. The shift from single transactions to subscription-based recurring revenue bundles accelerates. Amazon Prime and Apple One will add both hardware and ad-free search to their services.
Disney Plus creates an ongoing direct relationship with its customers that generate predictable revenues. Netflix on the other hand sees the light and adds new benefits perhaps MoviePass-like unlimited theater tickets to create higher-priced subscription tiers that stem its history of cash flow negativity.
Speaking of theaters, out-of-home entertainment in all its forms makes an early comeback later this year. Artificial intelligence continues to be unabated. Last year’s shockwaves revealed both the best and worst of A.I in the world of media. Facebook’s and Google’s algorithms nearly burned many North American and European companies down in the name of shareholder value. At the same time, Micro-stories will get new heights. As a result, media companies will focus on user generated content and be prepared to see Quibi a trend this year.
Remote collaboration takes root. For example at Golden Way Media Films currently we are collaborating with some American actors and post-production companies in Los Angeles in regards to one of our film projects Ghostware a Sci-fi fantasy feature film. We will be using 3D and hologram technology in post-production which will give a unique user experience when the movie is released.
Film production companies such as ours have reached a collective “aha moment” of new efficiencies and cost reductions which means more virtual production and post-production and less industry travel.
Technology companies take this new reality further with the development of industry-specific and optimized virtual creation, collaboration and production tools. The pandemic’s adverse impacts on production also accelerate development of “digital human” technology the kind used to enable Carrie Fisher to star as Princess Leia even after her death.
Year 2022 is going to be an exciting year for many film and TV production companies. Hopefully the corona pandemic will be over soon.