Movie Industry in Flux

'Outliers', like Netflix and Amazon are changing the movie industry - there is no doubt about that.  With very deep pockets, these disruptor's are producing quality content, purchasing the best entries at Festivals, and signing 'A' listers. In the process, these companies are changing the movie industry forcing others, from the major studios to indie film-makers, to readjust or all-out change their modus operendi.

Social Media Has Huge Impact on Movies' Success

In 2006, when I started this CMG blog, I forecasted that the internet would change the movie industry. As predicted, the web evolved and spawned large entities with virtually unlimited monetary resources which gravitated to the world of mass media entertainment -  movies, sports, and TV shows.  At this time, Netflix and Amazon are the big players in the field, but there are others: Apple, Hulu, HBO, Facebook, and yes, even Twitter, just to name several.

Netflix is the most aggressive and backup their attitude with an annual content acquisition/production war-chest of $6 billion.  Amazon is more conservative, which can be expected given all of the other lines of business it is involved in, including being one of the major cloud service providers.  In fact, Netflix is in the process of having Amazon 'serve up' all of its content as Netflix wants out of the back-office operations in providing content to its subscriber base - Amazon will do this.  Netflix has 69 million U.S. subscribers and hasn't scratched the overseas markets, including China and Russia, most of the rest of Europe and Latin America.

A lot of content is needed to satisfy the global entertainment marketplace but will this trend produce a 'bubble of content'.  Too much content chasing too few outlets. We may already be seeing this at cinemas. Movies that normally would be sure box-office bets now flop in the wake of the big franchise films that suck all of the oxygen out of the theatrical playlist.  Only films that generate favorable social media chatter make for good box-office grosses, and this trend will not only continue but get more traction - and it will be felt by cinemas.

The cinema's digital rivals are relentless, and day-and-date release across all entertainment platforms is inevitable.  The movie-going experience must become more, must become better, must become immersive.