This week’s insights: Oscar’s battles with popular and best… MoviePass has changed how views decide to go out to see movies… Is the 8PM curtain time falling to on-demand expectations?
- Movies As Popularity Contest? The Academy of Motion Pictures seems to be conceding that “best” and “popular” have now diverged to a degree that endangers the Oscars. As the Academy has responded to demands to diversify its membership, the Best Picture category has reflected a broader, perhaps artier taste. Consequently, the biggest box office movies are finding it more difficult to crack the competition. And that means fewer viewers for Oscar. So a plan for a new category for “popular” movies. But is this really the way to go? Doesn’t it create more problems than it solves? And surely any blockbuster superhero movie that wins in the “popular” division will be discounted because it didn’t win in the “best” category.
- Has MoviePass Changed Audience Behavior? Buying movie tickets on subscription was not part of the movie theatre business plan until MoviePass came along. While MoviePass might have overreached and got itself into a cash hole, it forced theatres to reconsider their longstanding business models. Already AMC has introduced its own version of the subscription. Whether or not MoviePass survives (and it’s not looking likely, even with its modifications to the deal) the company has changed the way many ticket-buyers think about an outing for a movie. And maybe the industry will change.
- Why 8 PM In An On-Demand World? It’s too late for some. For others, getting to the show by 8 means cutting dinner short. Peter Dobrin looks at how arts companies are experimenting with start times. “Today, we live less in an age of innocence than an antsy state of continual multiple choice. Everyone wants everything on demand, challenging so-called time-based art forms to keep up.”
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