The Atlantic

The Future That Hollywood Doesn’t Want to Imagine

What if movie theaters stay dark all year? What if people are too afraid to go back when cinemas reopen?
Source: Maddie McGarvey / The New Y​ork Times / Redux

Existential questions about the future of cinema-going are nothing new for Hollywood. The rise of streaming services and in ticket sales have prompted much hand-wringing about the relevance of movie theaters. But the current coronavirus pandemic has only amplified those anxieties as the industry faces an apocalyptic reality: Nearly all movie theaters are dark across North America, and box-office data . Blockbusters have been rescheduled or delayed indefinitely. And, perhaps most shockingly, a major studio is releasing one of its films online, bypassing theaters entirely—a line that Hollywood’s old guard has never crossed before.

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