The global pandemic has forced the entertainment industry to look for radical, innovative ways to reach their audiences. The studios worldwide are making a slow but gradual progression to streaming platforms. The theater model is about to go obsolete. With Warner Brothers announcing an HBO Max release for all its 2021 movies, the theater chains cried foul. Now Kevin Feige, Head of Marvel Studios, owner of the world’s most profitable movie franchise, has said something that might be the final nail in the coffin.
According to Kevin Feige, streaming services are absolutely “100% The Future” of the movie industry. And when he said those words, it carried weight. Things are about to be shaken up for good.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had an unprecedented year. 2020 has proved to be quite the disaster for the MCU movie slate. No major projects have been released this time. The last major MCU project released was back in July last year. It was Spider-Man: Far From Home. Black Widow is set for a release not before May 2021. The next year will see a lot of MCU shows based on popular franchise characters take the center-stage. They will be released on Disney+, Disney’s official streaming platform.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ Fest will start with WandaVision. Post that , a slew of new releases like Loki, Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Ms. Marvel, and the What If series are in order. Marvel has tried its hands on a loose TV Universe revolving around the Marvel cinematic Universe. Netflix’s Defenders universe, Hulu’s Cloak and Dagger and Helstrom, and the Agent’s of SHIELD TV Shows are prime examples. But the Disney+ shows have been tailor-made keeping the movie universe in mind. It has been under development for quite sometime and Kevin Feige has high hopes it will tremendously compliment to the already popular movie universe of the MCU.
In an interview with Emmy Magazine, Kevin Feig sat down to talk about WandaVision and the future the MCU might be heading towards. He states and we quote:
Streaming is 100 percent the future and where consumers want to watch things. And hopefully they’ll want to watch our longform narrative series. An experience like WandaVision is something you can’t get in a movie. You go to movies for things you can’t get on streaming, and you go to streaming for things you can’t get in a theater. And of course, everything in a theater goes to streaming eventually.
Looks like Marvel Studios has a very positive mindset for streaming platforms’ utility in the future. While Disney and Marvel were pointing out Disney+, the same could be said for the rest of Non-Disney related franchises and projects. On Demand Services are the future of entertainment. The Theater model had its time under the sun and it has since run its course. The pandemic has shown us the fallacies of the model. Personalized, fully customizable entertainment is the way to move forward.
With subscribers for Streaming services showing enormous increase in numbers this year, theaters remained closed for most parts of 2020. It’s only logical the world’s most profitable movie studio joins the bandwagon.
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