Eh, you're being a little over dramatic.
For one, what we're going back to, at first, won't be "100 or 200 people" in a theater, Theaters will be at 50% max capacity for months, likely, if that, and there will be all kinds of cleaning/disinfecting protocols between showings. Again, whether you trust some 17-year-old to properly disinfect is one thing, but I think standards will be high, simply due to the concern, which managers will hear about nonstop.
As for the whole streaming thing, even if every major theater chain went under, and people weren't comfortable sitting in packed theaters again until this time next year, studios would STILL make more money in the long run by waiting to release their biggest movies in theaters, when all of the chains were inevitably resurected by new investors. There's simply too much money to made theatrically compared to what would be made streaming those same titles exclusively.
Theater-going will no doubt be a strange and rocky experience for the next six months or so, but to act like this is enough to completely blow up the insanely profitable business model that theatrical releases are for studios is disingenuous. Yes, this will almost assuredly kill the 90-day theater-to-streaming window, but by this time next year, if not far sooner, the theatrical experience will be as profitable as ever.
For one, what we're going back to, at first, won't be "100 or 200 people" in a theater, Theaters will be at 50% max capacity for months, likely, if that, and there will be all kinds of cleaning/disinfecting protocols between showings. Again, whether you trust some 17-year-old to properly disinfect is one thing, but I think standards will be high, simply due to the concern, which managers will hear about nonstop.
As for the whole streaming thing, even if every major theater chain went under, and people weren't comfortable sitting in packed theaters again until this time next year, studios would STILL make more money in the long run by waiting to release their biggest movies in theaters, when all of the chains were inevitably resurected by new investors. There's simply too much money to made theatrically compared to what would be made streaming those same titles exclusively.
Theater-going will no doubt be a strange and rocky experience for the next six months or so, but to act like this is enough to completely blow up the insanely profitable business model that theatrical releases are for studios is disingenuous. Yes, this will almost assuredly kill the 90-day theater-to-streaming window, but by this time next year, if not far sooner, the theatrical experience will be as profitable as ever.
