Cinema in the Age of Cellphones & Digital Media - Part 2
So, is "real" cinema destined to "go the way of the dinosaur" in the age of digital media and streaming platforms?
Yes, it seems highly likely.
"In a groundbreaking moment, Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in a deal that puts a major Hollywood studio back in the business of owning a movie theater for the first time in more than 75 years with certain exceptions."
Jun 12, 2024
The Hollywood Reporter [1]
Judging by this recent move, fiduciary projections are not looking good for Cineplex, Odeon, and other major cinemas. These larger chains are going to have to find some miraculous cost-cutting measures or face reality – streaming media is winning.
There's blood in the water, and to quote the film Jaws, "we're going to need a bigger boat". Perhaps that bigger boat has arrived — in the form of AI technologies that will allow cinema chains to outsource their marketing, ticket sales, and other aspects of the business. It may also enable the multi-billion dollar film studios to automate a lot of the jobs associated with the art of filmmaking. This is leading many workers in the motion picture & television industries to champion for rights, and even "hit the picket-lines" when necessary – as evidenced by the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television & Radio Artists) contract negotiations that ended the recent 'actors & writers strike' of 2023.
“The Hollywood strike drama is finally ending.
“The heads of major studios have agreed to a tentative new three-year contract with SAG-AFTRA…The workers have been on strike since July, when they joined screenwriters on their strike.”
“The SAG-AFTRA Strike is Over, But the AI Fight in Hollywood is Just Beginning.” - Center for Democracy & Technology [2]
Where does an industry go – when the only viable model urges the higher-ups to dispense with a large chunk of the workforce (creatives, talent, crew) in a quest to save money. All while investing in new emergent technologies to better pinpoint demographics, analytics and other sales metrics.
It goes straight into the crapper, that's where.
If AI ends up being responsible for the development, production, distribution, and marketing of film properties; we're going to end up with what has been coined: slop, content merely designed to drive the algorithm/gain clicks. This will be a direct side effect of employing artificial intelligence in an attempt to "streamline" or "innovate".
Click-bait;
a world away from the muses that inspired the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Hitchcock, Coppola, and the other greats of our time. Nor is this what Charlie Kaufman was fretting about when attempting to adapt The Orchid Thief — I can assure you. No, until AI came along someone could be trusted to craft something with genuine sincerity; when it comes to Chat-GPT, we can assume it will create what is most easily digestible, not what is most nourishing.
As our screens have gotten smaller, so have our attention spans, which in turn has diminished our societal appetite for visual art that resonates, instead the average viewer wants a show that is either unobtrusive (to play in the background as noise) or an effects driven spectacle — so utterly mesmerizing that there's almost no thought process really needed. Loud noises, explosive laser beams, and witty one-liners: is what the average audience goer expects nowadays. This is why some directors (I'm looking at you Marty) have come out and complained in interviews, speaking on, "cinema not being cinema anymore", pointing out the creative-failings of what are more often being called 'theme park ride movies'. Movies like — 'The Transformers', 'The Avengers', 'Batman v Superman', and other big-budget, merchandise driven releases.
“I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain.
Cinema is an art form that brings you the unexpected. In superhero movies, nothing is at risk,” - Martin Scorsese
The New York Times [3]
I don't fully agree with this opinion, yet, there are parts of his argument that make sense to me. Martin Scorsese wasn't saying there should be absolutely no franchises — just that their recent dominance is negatively impacting the industry as a whole and that the artform is suffering simultaneously.
That I do agree with. Not to mention, artificial intelligence threatens to exacerbate the problem tenfold.
Mhhh, digital slop.
Oink-oink.
_______
Sources:
[2]
https://cdt.org/insights/the-sag-aftra-strike-is-over-but-the-ai-fight-in-hollywood-is-just-beginning/
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/martin-scorsese-marvel.html