There is no doubt, that the year 2020 has been a rollercoaster of unfortunate events affecting lives across the globe, from bushfires in Australia, a volcano eruption in the Philippines and an earthquake in Turkey, but as we know, one of the biggest damages the world has taken last year, came from an unknown virus, called Covid-19, a virus that was easily underestimated as it expanded through the countries, months after months. The virus, been lethal, the government was forced to close down everything that involved social gatherings.
Needless to say, once the lockdown was in motion, this put in jeopardy to a lot of busines economically, many of them having no choice but to close forever, therefore bringing up the question “Would thing ever be the same again?” Places such as retail stores, food chains hace suffered as much as the next busines, but found a way through delivery or click and collect, to survive during the pandemic; no much luck on the entertainment field like cinemas or theatres, these venues have taken a big dent, to the point where people have found a quick and more safe replacement, the streaming services. Platforms well known as Netflix or Amazon Prime, have been the way to feed our hunger for new entertaining content, whether we are into films or series.
Due to government restrictions, we been given the responsibility to stay indoors and lower the chances of spreading the virus among us, as the situation grew for the worse, streaming services have been releasing more and more content, even creating new services according to people’s taste, with the intention to gradually take over of the experience of going out to enjoy a film, surrounded by friends or stranger who share the excitement of watching a movie on the big screen. Now months have gone by, and it is fair to say that we are used to staying in our homes enjoying the latest blockbuster in a secure and known space, but we know that things will be back to normal shortly, what happens then? Will we remember that old feeling of sitting down in a big room with our favourite snack, while sinking into a film been shown in the dark with overloud sound? Yes, it is true that films release dates have been pushed over and over again, to the point where we can only hope that they will be waiting for us once the cinemas re-open, but for how long can a cinephile wait, with production companies submitting to the fear of loosing money every month that their product isn’t shown, it is understandable that the easiest option would be to hand over the film to the streaming services where, as at this moment in time, everybody can enjoy. There is a fear indeed, a fear of losing not the seventh art itself, but its home by birth right, after decades of finding its place among people from small ages to senior viewers, are we really ready to say goodbye to cinemas?
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