The New Theatre Experience: Streaming

Chloe Brooks, Reporter
February 22, 2021

When looking at the evolution of watching movies, you may think of the classic big screen drive up movies, or the old fashioned silent movie theatres, or even the more modern dolby cinema with the comfy reclining chairs. When entering the day and age during COVID, another evolution has made itself prominent: streaming. Watching your favorite movies and shows from your screen at home eliminates the risk of spreading Covid through crowded theatres and messy concession food. Unfortunately, much of the population misses the nostalgia and environment of a movie theatre. Therefore, many movies had delayed their release dates until 2021. With vaccines rolling out by the thousands, the hope is that movie theatres will reopen and become popular once more. The truth is, the ways of watching movies have permanently changed for some students at TJ.

Majority of the students at TJ miss the theatre. Whether it’s the authentic flavor of Movie Theatre Popcorn, or the out of body experience you feel during and after a movie in the theatre, visiting the theatre is completely different from streaming movies from home. Though, even with the pull towards going back to the theatre, the majority of the students at TJ still plan to stream movies from home. “ I’m probably going to stream it online, I don’t really leave the house anymore.” They are more concerned about the safety of themselves and their families than their experience in the theatre. “I would really like to go back to the theatres, but I don’t think I probably feel comfortable as far as COVID right now.”

Some students do hope to return to the theatre this year. Many saw it as a hangout spot for friends and family. Others saw it as the best way to experience their favorite flix. They are looking forward to COVID restrictions easing up so they can go out and have fun once again.

A large number of students are actually planning on doing a hybrid or streaming and theatre watching. With the choice between streaming and going to the theatre, these students appreciate the flexibility they have. They now get to choose whether they want to go out or stay home without being burdened with having to wait for these movies to come out on DVD. Want a classic big screen movie theatre experience? Go to the Theatre! Want to seek a more affordable and possibly better option? Stream it! You can now control how your entertainment is presented to you.

With the lack of people filling theatres up, production companies figured out a way to make up for the loss of revenue. Companies such as Warner Brothers, Disney, and Paramount have been and will continue to release movies onto streaming platforms. Paramount, for example, has been making hundreds of millions of dollars just by sending “Without Remorse” and “Coming 2 America” to Amazon and Netflix.

Unfortunately, due to the loss of revenue in theatres, companies such as AMC have been struggling. Even more unfortunate, Hedge Funds have been taking advantage of this loss. While the company drops in the stock market, Hedge Funds buy tons of stocks. When the company takes a nosedive in the stock market, those hedge funds then sell all the stock they had owned to make profit off of the dying company.

Luckily, in spite of the hedge funds, people are starting to buy and hold stocks from the dying companies to raise their stock, therefore making the hedge funds’ attempts useless. This was due to a Reddit subpost called WallStreetBets calling redditors to end the Hedge Funds plan. AMCs stock jumped from 5.00$ to 20.30$ in a day. Theatres need all the help they can get right now, and thanks to these redditors, they are getting another chance.

We have entered a new decade of movie watching. We can now appreciate the flexibility we receive with streaming. Catch Tom and Jerry on HBO Max at home. Drive up to Godzilla vs Kong in the movie theatre. Just remember to be safe, and take advantage of the new option of streaming. Thank you for watching, from Swarm TV, I’m Chloe.

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