million dollar movie without enough willing ticket buyers H u m a n i t i e s

1. Read the article “Hollywood Blockbusters’ New Supervillain: Empty Seats” from the Wall Street Journal.
2. Cite ideas, quotes or facts from the article and any personal observations and make an argument on what is the best strategy for movie studios in the near- and long term in adjusting to the challenges presented by the COVID pandemic. (50 words minimum) 

Post 1:

To me it is really hard to say what the best course of action is for movie studios to take during these challenging times in results of COVID-19. The article makes it appear that there isn’t much incentive for big movie studios to make big blockbuster movies during these times, with its example of the movie where it says it, “gradually opening its $200 million film “Tenet” in North American theaters Aug. 27. “Tenet” has made $29.5 million after two full weeks in domestic theaters (Links to an external site.) and an additional $177.5 million overseas through last weekend…” which is barely breaking even. (Watson) I think depending on the success of the newly released “Mulan” which went the streaming route, could have a huge impact on the future strategies that movie studios utilize. As if “Mulan” was able to be successful and make a good profit, which to me wasn’t even a good movie and received backlash, then I could see this encouraging many other movie studios to offer their movies on various streaming sites.

Watson, R.T. “Hollywood Blockbusters’ New Supervillain: Empty Seats.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 18 Sept. 2020,

Post 2:

The entertainment industry is one of the severely hit industries during this period of pandemic. Movie theaters were lockdown to mitigate the risk of local transmission. Even if movie theaters are open in some areas, movie goers are skeptical to go and see a movie because of fear. Theater owners have to follow strict health protocol if they wan to operate and need to admit only fifty percent capacity or less. To attract movie goers they also need to have a really good movie to show which is quite impossible to have because movie studies cannot afford to take risk of releasing a multi-million dollar movie without enough willing ticket buyers to justify a fair return. This is the dilemma faced by movie theaters and movie studios. Streaming service provider like Netflix offers a solution to movie studios. I think the best short-run and long run strategy is to establish partnership with streaming service providers for the release of their films. The question is that would it provide a fair return on capital? With an imminent possible wave of infections and rolling back the reopening of movie theaters and other public spaces, I think movie studios have no other choice but to tie up with streaming service providers to get at least a recovery of their investments in movie production.