As a whole, online entertainment has went through big changes throughout the past few years as many different forms of media have made the change or have already been represented online as a core part of their structure. One of the biggest here is certainly with esports as the growing number of events and competitions are all represented online, and the online betting options found here are starting to outpace those even found in traditional sporting. Other entertainment like podcasting has absolutely taken off too being one of the biggest forms of media in the world now and spurring a huge number of new podcasts in the space from your everyday Joe’s and your big celebrities alike. But more imminent big changes could be on the way for an industry that has largely looked unchanged, as the movie industry, particularly with box office, could be about to permanently change.
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Many will already be familiar with the big steps that platforms like Netflix have taken, as this year alone they’re set to release 71 new titles with at least one title per week, and with a strong track record of great original releases, there will certainly be some top movies in the roster. Both Disney and Amazon have been doing the same too with some of the best original content out there, but they’re all notably lacking one thing – the latest big blockbusters to hit the silver screen, but that could all be changing in the near future.
It was announced at the end of last year that Hollywood studio Warner Bros with huge names in their roster like The Dark Knight Series, Wonder Woman, and The Hobbit, would be changing their approach to big releases in 2021 by having their newest movies release directly to video on demand as well as to cinemas following the events of the past year that had seen cinema viewership drop dramatically. The past year has seen some other big releases d o the same, but not on a wider scale, and there are of course still sceptics that will hail the success of these releases down to the pandemic period, and that will largely be the same throughout 2021 too, but success early could see many other studios jump on board and for the first time see the latest big movie releases move away from cinema and directly to online alternatives.
There are some huge movies to act as a proving ground too, the likes of the Matrix 4 and Dune were sure to be huge crowd pullers, so if either can perform well over video-on-demand it will certainly sway some changes in attitudes and could lead to imminent big changes for an industry that has largely been unchanged for some time.
