As the film industry continues to navigate the pandemic, which has raised deep questions about the future of theater-going, Tom Hanks has confidence that the cinema experience will survive for one simple reason: franchises. More specifically, the Marvel movies. In a clear-eyed assessment of the movie industry, Hanks shared his opinion with Collider that the accelerated trend of more movies going to streaming was an inevitable outcome, and isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, the beloved actor believes theaters will still be around for a long time thanks to “event” movies like Marvel and other blockbuster franchises. Via io9:
“News of the World [Hanks’ new movie] might be the last adult movie about people saying interesting things that’s going to play on a big screen somewhere because after this, in order to guarantee that people show up again, we’re going to have the Marvel Universe and all sorts of franchises. Some of those movies are great and you want to see them writ large because watching it at home on your couch might diminish them somewhere, somehow, in their visual punch. But the sea change that was rought by Covid-19 has been a slow train coming.”
Despite being a long-time fixture in the film industry, Hanks is open to the “big curve of change” that the pandemic has rapidly sped up over the past few months. “I think there will be an awful lot of movies that will only be streamed and it will be fine to see them that way because they’ll be built and made and constructed for someones’ pretty good widescreen TV at home,” Hanks told Collider.
Obviously, not everyone in Hollywood shares Hanks’ view, and there has been a considerable amount of debate over Warner Bros.’ recent move to shift its entire 2021 film slate to HBO Max. Although, DC Films head Walter Hamada revealed that the studio plans to have at least four superhero movies in theaters every year starting in 2022, which not only signals that the HBO Max move isn’t a permanent strategy, but also adds further weight to Hanks’ prediction for the future of cinema.
(Via Collider)