Maybe Bill and Ted really are going to save the world.
I am so proud of Orion and MGM for making the announcement that Bill & Ted Face The Music will go to VOD and whatever available theaters there are on September 1st. That’s the way to do it, and if NATO has a problem with it, fuck NATO. I get that they are wholly invested in the future of theatrical exhibition, but that’s not the only way people see films. It’s not even the primary way people see films, and it hasn’t been for a while.
I have grappled with my feelings about that. I was raised to view the theater as a holy space. I still feel that way about it. Just last night, I decided to watch What’s Up, Doc? for the first time in a long while. It’s a terrific comedy and certainly watching it here at home, my main thought was how much I wished I had been old enough to see it in theaters upon its initial release. I imagine waves of laughter as each of those running gags paid off over and over, and I’d love to hear that. There are so many films where my memory of the audience response is a big part of what I cherish, and considering how long we’ve been out of theaters now, I’m missing it in an almost chemical way.
Not enough to go to a movie theater any time soon, though, and that’s the issue.
Things have changed. Watching studios struggle to figure out how to respond to that is interesting. It was responsible of Disney to pull Mulan from its release schedule and to push everything else back a full year. It is not responsible for them to keep pretending like The New Mutants is happening in theaters in August. You want to hold that release date? You’d better figure out how to send the movie home, then, because it’s not happening otherwise. I know it’s extra-complicated for Disney on this title because HBO technically has the right to the streaming debut of their former Fox films, and there’s no way they send NEW MUTANTS to HBO Max or any variation thereof. The only real option they have is PVOD, and Disney hasn’t really experimented in that space yet.
So I’m curious… at this point, what movies do you wish they would just send home so you have something new to see? And what movies are you absolutely going to hold off on until we have movie theaters again? I would happily watch most things at home. For me, it’s really only the spectacle that I would like to save for theaters. Do I want to see King Kong beat the shit out of Godzilla using a battle-axe made from one of Godzilla’s back spikes? Yes. Yes, I do. But I want to see that in IMAX at ear-bleeding volume, and I’ll happily wait for that experience.
In the meantime, I’m perfectly happy welcoming Bill & Ted home, and I’m curious to see what you guys are most excited about seeing sooner rather than later.
As always, the Saturday Free-For-All is open to anyone who wants to comment. Be decent to each other, and feel free to talk about anything. That’s why it’s here.
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Now is the chance to build and market that model for the future and #Hollywood is squandering it. Nothing, to me, IMO, needs to be saved for the 'theater experience'. I can experience movies just and vividly and spectacularly at home as much as I do in a theater. But that's me and my life, it's not the same for everyone. I am disappointed in the New Mutants movie, they should be going VOD as long as we've waited for that.
It's not really what I'm seeing in the theater, it's that I'm there. Every movie brings its own unique experience, but it's being in a movie theater that I miss. That experience of being there. Taking the escalator up from the ground floor to where the multiplex is, the smell of popcorn growing stronger. Oh, man. The smell (and taste) of popcorn and other sundry treats (if it's a cheat day, and it almost always was the last year). I have a pavlovian response to that smell. Getting my big Dasani bottle and a large popcorn (no fake butter, please) and a box of regular M&Ms that I will soon dump into the popcorn. Settling into my seat about halfway up on the aisle. Watching trailers. The anticipation of seeing the movie. All of that is what I miss.
Funny that you mention recently watching “What’s Up, Doc?”, and wishing you had the experience of seeing it in the theater. I was 8 years old when my mom took me to see it in theaters. I was to young to get most of the sexual context of the film, but I do remember, and my mom will verify this, laughing so hard at a lot of the slapstick in the film, that I amused the audience there that night. I guess I was a sight to behold. I still have incredibly fond memories of that film, and that theatrical experience is a big part of my love for the theatrical experience.
Bill and Ted will do it for me for a while. It seems so positive and joyous, which I could really use right now. (And, I'd imagine, a lot of people could.) I'll miss seeing it in a crowded theater, but I wouldn't have gone if they'd only released it theatrically, anyway. I won't be in a movie theater until there's a vaccine. Can you imagine trying to concentrate on a movie right now and someone in the back coughs --just once? Evacuation time.
The bigger ones, like Kong vs Godzilla, or even Black Widow, I don't mind waiting until I can see it on a big screen. (Except I wonder how much the Marvel moves/Disney+ show larger storytelling will be affected. If Falcon is delayed and was intended connect to Black Widow or Eternals somehow or lead into WandaVision...)
And by the time New Mutants comes out, the actors will be too old to do press for it! ("Well, Conan, I'd love to talk to you about that scene but that was 30 years ago. I was 12.")
I’ve got a running list of 20+ films that were getting released this year that I wanted to see. 10 of those films are now getting released at home, and I’m sure I’ll get the opportunity to see them at some point. But when the virus hit, and I had to stay home, I took the window of time I would not have had otherwise and substantially converted/added to my home video collection. Plex is my new best friend, and I just bought a new TV. I really miss the ritual and escape of the theater, but I don’t have to go back anytime soon. I do want to see Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time To Die, but I can wait for these and all the other films.
I was really looking forward to New Mutants. If they made it available via PVOD, I’d absolutely rent it. I haven’t been a fan of theaters for a while but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the option of going to a theater.
I could say that I’m disappointed that I have to wait a little bit for the new Nolan and Wes Anderson pictures, but I know what I’m getting from those filmmakers. I don’t think either one is doing something dramatically different or reinventing their style.They’re not like Paul Thomas Anderson or the Coen Brothers where they’re trying something every couple of pictures.
I’m probably most interested in seeing Chloe Zhao’s two new pictures: Nomadland and The Eternals. Her first two pictures felt like documentaries and how does that translate to big blockbuster filmmaking? Zhao was able to get great, heartbreaking performances from non actors, I want to see how she does with real actors.
I adore theatrical distribution, but when April and May releases were wiped out I jumped onto the streaming bandwagon. Now that I know that most of next year’s titles will have to be delayed due to halted production schedules, I’m more willing to wait for anything and everything that is a big event. Kong vs Zilla, Top Gun, anything Marvel, Fast & Furious...I’ll need those as my theatrical comfort food when we can go back to a theater under normal conditions. That said, if we get into March or April and this virus is still a major problem, then release all of it as PVOD. I would gladly pay $40 to rent KONG VS. GODZILLA for a weekend. It would cost more than that to take my family of five even once. I am sorry for small theaters and chains like Alamo Drafthouse that offer exceptional theatrical experiences, but I won’t be real sad if AMC, Cinemark, or Regal go belly up.
Nothing should be saved for theaters. That experience can be enjoyable but it is in no way crucial to any film. As for which ones of the delayed crop I'm most looking forward to, The Green Knight, Coming 2 America, and Bill & Ted.
My most anticipated film of the autumn is still CANDYMAN, so I'm hoping that gets some kind of VOD release in Canada. If cinemas are open and I feel safe and it's screening, I will go, but at this point, I'm happy to see it however I can, and I'll gladly go again if it gets some sort of late theatrical release. Yes, cinemas are preferable, but better to either hold off release if studios insist on theatrical, or just have VOD. Someone pointed out that a lot of problems are ones the big studios have created for themselves by placing all their proverbial eggs in the one basket of a tent pole film, instead of several mid-budgets that would be fine with VOD release.
I’ve barely made a dent in my backlog of titles I need to catch up with. I’m good for awhile.
But if Wonder Woman 84 delivers the same optimism and adrenaline kick from the No Man’s Land scene in the first? Ooh, that’d be a perfect release in these times.
You must be crushed at what is happening around you, Drew. It is strange enough in the UK and it seems we are slowly moving towards a more manageable situation. Cinema owners here are desperate for content because they can show it, though it remains a deeply troubling time....
The new bond will be strange to watch for the first time on a tv screen if that happens. But it is how I saw every one for the first time until Living Daylights anyway. My dad didn’t have big screen OLEDs. The cinema is preferred. Not necessary.
I think most of the delayed films I am content waiting for theatres for- I really have not done VOD on any of the films that have come out due to cost, but I might do it for "Bill and Ted Face the Music," depending on how I feel about the first two films (which I've never seen). I'd also consider "Soul," if they do- indeed- eschew theatres on that one.
I have been doing our local indie theatre's Pop-Up Drive-In the past couple of weeks, which has included "The Goonies," "John Lewis: Good Trouble," "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Tomorrow, I'm going to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
I hope everyone is safe and healthy. My wife has been visiting family in Colorado for two weeks, so I've basically been doing a lot of watching that she would not be interested in. That included an epic weekend of "Apocalypse Now" (Final Cut), "A Hidden Life" and "Until the End of the World" last weekend, a rewatch of "Cloud Atlas" as part of my doing a deep Wachowski dive, a rewatch of Egoyan's "Exotica" last night, some Jesus Franco in "The Girl From Rio" and "Vampyros Lesbos," and my mom and I have been watching comedies this month when I've gone to visit her, which include "Airplane!," "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," "High Anxiety" and- for her birthday- the "Police Squad!" series.
Honestly, at this point I'm okay with them releasing everything via VOD. Before I had kids I was in the theater multiple times a week and I love the theatrical experience but ever since my kids were born I find myself going to the theater less and less. For the longest time I thought it would really impact my enjoyment or appreciation of something but I've discovered it's almost the exact opposite. At a movie I can enjoy a movie the way I want to without worrying about many of the annoyances that come with going to a theater in the modern era. I do miss the energy of experience something with a large crowd but at the same time I get to truly appreciate the reactions of my wife and kids and if something is hitting us all at the same time it's just as special as being in a packed house.
Whenever they decide to open movie theaters again I'll gladly go once it's safe and responsible but I'll still probably consume about 90% of my entertainment at home.
At this point if they really want to keep people safe and encourage people to stay home then they should release as much as possible to VOD. It's a great way to also explore price points and all sorts of other things that could be huge paradigm shifts for the industry. The entire industry is about making money and it seems like they are leaving a massive amount of it on the table because they are trying to please one increasingly small arm of what they do. I don't want to see theaters to go out of business but at this point the whole model also seems very antiquated.
Having said that I would also love to see them really start pushing stuff to drive-ins more and more. As a kid I saw most new movies at the drive-in and those were seminal, life changing experiences.
Finally, I do keep having this recurring thought. While I want everything to be released right now one way or another it seems to me that the fact that production has all but stopped on almost everything will greatly impact things 6 months to a year down the line. Right now we have a big hole in entertainment landscape because nothing is being released, however let's say they did just start releasing everything, I fear that might mean we would have a gap of months where nothing could be released simply because it's not done yet. Sure it may not have an impact yet but at some point there's simply not going to be anything ready to release because it hasn't been completed. I can see them spreading things out but at some point it seems like things are going to start getting really thin if this keeps up.
Bond. Top Gun. Kong v. Godzilla. Ghostbusters Afterlife. Dune. Matrix 4. Halloween Kills...I will happily wait till theaters open up. Everything else release on VOD.
There is no way in hell I'm paying for a Marvel film in the theater after Endgame, not out of spite mind you, but I feel like I got the totality of the MCU experience from that one so I'm good.
What’s the cost of a communal plex server? My personal collection is 3 tb but I it’s a duplicate hell. I think that cleaning that up will be a Covid 19 Season 2 project.
Bill & Ted being announced as a VOD made my day. I will gladly wait until next fall(2021) to see Halloween Kills as I think that will be a better experience in a crowded theater than at home. Coming 2 America would be the movie I am mixed on. If it is great, then it would be more fun in a crowded movie theater. If it is anything less than that, I'd be better off watching it at home.
With you on Bill and Ted, that will surely be just the sort of film we need right now. On the big screen I would give anything to see Tenet, No Time to Die, Candyman, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, Dune, A Quiet Place II, Antebellum, Maverick, Respect....the list goes on. I just miss cinema. But we have film. Thank you for keeping it alive for us, Drew. And everyone on here. It has really been helping me at a tough time. And we've got it easy compared to so.many.
Of all the movies that were scheduled to come out in spring and summer, the two that I had looked forward to the most were "No Time to Die" and "Soul". As much as I would love to watch them via VOD/Disney+ for the sake of watching new content, I'm a believer in the theatrical experience for any movie (I can't commit to watching movies uninterrupted while at home compared to the theater), so I can hold on them until it's safe.
Then again, the likelihood of me returning to the theaters is nonexistent while this virus remains a concern. I think there's a very real possibility that it won't be considered truly safe to return to theaters until probably next spring. It sucks; I haven't gone this long without going to a movie theater since high school, which was nearly 11 years ago...
I'm looking forward to see what's happening with the BOB'S BURGERS movie that was supposed to come this year, namely cause I'm curious what that show can offer in a cinematic context which they can't offer on TV. Also, would really be pleased as punch if WONDER WOMAN 84 and BLACK WIDOW make it out this fall, even if it's on VOD. At this point, I am more than okay if more studios finally buck up and face the music like BILL & TED 3 has. I miss theaters a lot, especially since I was getting back into going to them last year after several years of backing away from them, but pandemic or not, the future of watching movies is bound to change drastically, and if that means more filmmakers like Scorsese or David Fincher getting to make their material without too much compromise, then perhaps this change can be for the better in some way.
Everything should be put out via VOD now.
Everything.
Now is the chance to build and market that model for the future and #Hollywood is squandering it. Nothing, to me, IMO, needs to be saved for the 'theater experience'. I can experience movies just and vividly and spectacularly at home as much as I do in a theater. But that's me and my life, it's not the same for everyone. I am disappointed in the New Mutants movie, they should be going VOD as long as we've waited for that.
It's not really what I'm seeing in the theater, it's that I'm there. Every movie brings its own unique experience, but it's being in a movie theater that I miss. That experience of being there. Taking the escalator up from the ground floor to where the multiplex is, the smell of popcorn growing stronger. Oh, man. The smell (and taste) of popcorn and other sundry treats (if it's a cheat day, and it almost always was the last year). I have a pavlovian response to that smell. Getting my big Dasani bottle and a large popcorn (no fake butter, please) and a box of regular M&Ms that I will soon dump into the popcorn. Settling into my seat about halfway up on the aisle. Watching trailers. The anticipation of seeing the movie. All of that is what I miss.
Funny that you mention recently watching “What’s Up, Doc?”, and wishing you had the experience of seeing it in the theater. I was 8 years old when my mom took me to see it in theaters. I was to young to get most of the sexual context of the film, but I do remember, and my mom will verify this, laughing so hard at a lot of the slapstick in the film, that I amused the audience there that night. I guess I was a sight to behold. I still have incredibly fond memories of that film, and that theatrical experience is a big part of my love for the theatrical experience.
Bill and Ted will do it for me for a while. It seems so positive and joyous, which I could really use right now. (And, I'd imagine, a lot of people could.) I'll miss seeing it in a crowded theater, but I wouldn't have gone if they'd only released it theatrically, anyway. I won't be in a movie theater until there's a vaccine. Can you imagine trying to concentrate on a movie right now and someone in the back coughs --just once? Evacuation time.
The bigger ones, like Kong vs Godzilla, or even Black Widow, I don't mind waiting until I can see it on a big screen. (Except I wonder how much the Marvel moves/Disney+ show larger storytelling will be affected. If Falcon is delayed and was intended connect to Black Widow or Eternals somehow or lead into WandaVision...)
And by the time New Mutants comes out, the actors will be too old to do press for it! ("Well, Conan, I'd love to talk to you about that scene but that was 30 years ago. I was 12.")
I’ve got a running list of 20+ films that were getting released this year that I wanted to see. 10 of those films are now getting released at home, and I’m sure I’ll get the opportunity to see them at some point. But when the virus hit, and I had to stay home, I took the window of time I would not have had otherwise and substantially converted/added to my home video collection. Plex is my new best friend, and I just bought a new TV. I really miss the ritual and escape of the theater, but I don’t have to go back anytime soon. I do want to see Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time To Die, but I can wait for these and all the other films.
I was really looking forward to New Mutants. If they made it available via PVOD, I’d absolutely rent it. I haven’t been a fan of theaters for a while but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the option of going to a theater.
I could say that I’m disappointed that I have to wait a little bit for the new Nolan and Wes Anderson pictures, but I know what I’m getting from those filmmakers. I don’t think either one is doing something dramatically different or reinventing their style.They’re not like Paul Thomas Anderson or the Coen Brothers where they’re trying something every couple of pictures.
I’m probably most interested in seeing Chloe Zhao’s two new pictures: Nomadland and The Eternals. Her first two pictures felt like documentaries and how does that translate to big blockbuster filmmaking? Zhao was able to get great, heartbreaking performances from non actors, I want to see how she does with real actors.
I adore theatrical distribution, but when April and May releases were wiped out I jumped onto the streaming bandwagon. Now that I know that most of next year’s titles will have to be delayed due to halted production schedules, I’m more willing to wait for anything and everything that is a big event. Kong vs Zilla, Top Gun, anything Marvel, Fast & Furious...I’ll need those as my theatrical comfort food when we can go back to a theater under normal conditions. That said, if we get into March or April and this virus is still a major problem, then release all of it as PVOD. I would gladly pay $40 to rent KONG VS. GODZILLA for a weekend. It would cost more than that to take my family of five even once. I am sorry for small theaters and chains like Alamo Drafthouse that offer exceptional theatrical experiences, but I won’t be real sad if AMC, Cinemark, or Regal go belly up.
Nothing should be saved for theaters. That experience can be enjoyable but it is in no way crucial to any film. As for which ones of the delayed crop I'm most looking forward to, The Green Knight, Coming 2 America, and Bill & Ted.
My most anticipated film of the autumn is still CANDYMAN, so I'm hoping that gets some kind of VOD release in Canada. If cinemas are open and I feel safe and it's screening, I will go, but at this point, I'm happy to see it however I can, and I'll gladly go again if it gets some sort of late theatrical release. Yes, cinemas are preferable, but better to either hold off release if studios insist on theatrical, or just have VOD. Someone pointed out that a lot of problems are ones the big studios have created for themselves by placing all their proverbial eggs in the one basket of a tent pole film, instead of several mid-budgets that would be fine with VOD release.
I’ve barely made a dent in my backlog of titles I need to catch up with. I’m good for awhile.
But if Wonder Woman 84 delivers the same optimism and adrenaline kick from the No Man’s Land scene in the first? Ooh, that’d be a perfect release in these times.
You must be crushed at what is happening around you, Drew. It is strange enough in the UK and it seems we are slowly moving towards a more manageable situation. Cinema owners here are desperate for content because they can show it, though it remains a deeply troubling time....
The new bond will be strange to watch for the first time on a tv screen if that happens. But it is how I saw every one for the first time until Living Daylights anyway. My dad didn’t have big screen OLEDs. The cinema is preferred. Not necessary.
I think most of the delayed films I am content waiting for theatres for- I really have not done VOD on any of the films that have come out due to cost, but I might do it for "Bill and Ted Face the Music," depending on how I feel about the first two films (which I've never seen). I'd also consider "Soul," if they do- indeed- eschew theatres on that one.
I have been doing our local indie theatre's Pop-Up Drive-In the past couple of weeks, which has included "The Goonies," "John Lewis: Good Trouble," "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Tomorrow, I'm going to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
I hope everyone is safe and healthy. My wife has been visiting family in Colorado for two weeks, so I've basically been doing a lot of watching that she would not be interested in. That included an epic weekend of "Apocalypse Now" (Final Cut), "A Hidden Life" and "Until the End of the World" last weekend, a rewatch of "Cloud Atlas" as part of my doing a deep Wachowski dive, a rewatch of Egoyan's "Exotica" last night, some Jesus Franco in "The Girl From Rio" and "Vampyros Lesbos," and my mom and I have been watching comedies this month when I've gone to visit her, which include "Airplane!," "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," "High Anxiety" and- for her birthday- the "Police Squad!" series.
Honestly, at this point I'm okay with them releasing everything via VOD. Before I had kids I was in the theater multiple times a week and I love the theatrical experience but ever since my kids were born I find myself going to the theater less and less. For the longest time I thought it would really impact my enjoyment or appreciation of something but I've discovered it's almost the exact opposite. At a movie I can enjoy a movie the way I want to without worrying about many of the annoyances that come with going to a theater in the modern era. I do miss the energy of experience something with a large crowd but at the same time I get to truly appreciate the reactions of my wife and kids and if something is hitting us all at the same time it's just as special as being in a packed house.
Whenever they decide to open movie theaters again I'll gladly go once it's safe and responsible but I'll still probably consume about 90% of my entertainment at home.
At this point if they really want to keep people safe and encourage people to stay home then they should release as much as possible to VOD. It's a great way to also explore price points and all sorts of other things that could be huge paradigm shifts for the industry. The entire industry is about making money and it seems like they are leaving a massive amount of it on the table because they are trying to please one increasingly small arm of what they do. I don't want to see theaters to go out of business but at this point the whole model also seems very antiquated.
Having said that I would also love to see them really start pushing stuff to drive-ins more and more. As a kid I saw most new movies at the drive-in and those were seminal, life changing experiences.
Finally, I do keep having this recurring thought. While I want everything to be released right now one way or another it seems to me that the fact that production has all but stopped on almost everything will greatly impact things 6 months to a year down the line. Right now we have a big hole in entertainment landscape because nothing is being released, however let's say they did just start releasing everything, I fear that might mean we would have a gap of months where nothing could be released simply because it's not done yet. Sure it may not have an impact yet but at some point there's simply not going to be anything ready to release because it hasn't been completed. I can see them spreading things out but at some point it seems like things are going to start getting really thin if this keeps up.
Bond. Top Gun. Kong v. Godzilla. Ghostbusters Afterlife. Dune. Matrix 4. Halloween Kills...I will happily wait till theaters open up. Everything else release on VOD.
There is no way in hell I'm paying for a Marvel film in the theater after Endgame, not out of spite mind you, but I feel like I got the totality of the MCU experience from that one so I'm good.
What’s the cost of a communal plex server? My personal collection is 3 tb but I it’s a duplicate hell. I think that cleaning that up will be a Covid 19 Season 2 project.
Bill & Ted being announced as a VOD made my day. I will gladly wait until next fall(2021) to see Halloween Kills as I think that will be a better experience in a crowded theater than at home. Coming 2 America would be the movie I am mixed on. If it is great, then it would be more fun in a crowded movie theater. If it is anything less than that, I'd be better off watching it at home.
With you on Bill and Ted, that will surely be just the sort of film we need right now. On the big screen I would give anything to see Tenet, No Time to Die, Candyman, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, Dune, A Quiet Place II, Antebellum, Maverick, Respect....the list goes on. I just miss cinema. But we have film. Thank you for keeping it alive for us, Drew. And everyone on here. It has really been helping me at a tough time. And we've got it easy compared to so.many.
Of all the movies that were scheduled to come out in spring and summer, the two that I had looked forward to the most were "No Time to Die" and "Soul". As much as I would love to watch them via VOD/Disney+ for the sake of watching new content, I'm a believer in the theatrical experience for any movie (I can't commit to watching movies uninterrupted while at home compared to the theater), so I can hold on them until it's safe.
Then again, the likelihood of me returning to the theaters is nonexistent while this virus remains a concern. I think there's a very real possibility that it won't be considered truly safe to return to theaters until probably next spring. It sucks; I haven't gone this long without going to a movie theater since high school, which was nearly 11 years ago...
I'm looking forward to see what's happening with the BOB'S BURGERS movie that was supposed to come this year, namely cause I'm curious what that show can offer in a cinematic context which they can't offer on TV. Also, would really be pleased as punch if WONDER WOMAN 84 and BLACK WIDOW make it out this fall, even if it's on VOD. At this point, I am more than okay if more studios finally buck up and face the music like BILL & TED 3 has. I miss theaters a lot, especially since I was getting back into going to them last year after several years of backing away from them, but pandemic or not, the future of watching movies is bound to change drastically, and if that means more filmmakers like Scorsese or David Fincher getting to make their material without too much compromise, then perhaps this change can be for the better in some way.