• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2022

In this paper, we examine the shortening of the theatrical window whereby films play at theaters for 90 days as one of the most portentous issues that could reshape the Hollywood film industry. We first examine the windows system that protected the status of movie theaters and the studios' attempt to shorten the theatrical release to create a premium VOD window in response to the declining revenue of DVDs after 2007 and the rise of streaming services. We then look at some of the major disruptions in distribution COVID-19 brought about. We also explore the shortening of the theatrical release in the wake of the pandemic and shows the changes in the theatrical release, along with the expansion of streaming services, raise questions over the long-held primacy of the theatrical release and the definition of film with the theatrical release as its part. From this, we highlight Hollywood at the crossroads of major changes with its future less certain than ever before.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.36-41
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• 2020

This paper aims to explore and shed light on how the rise of streaming services has been affecting the media landscape in the recent years by looking at the conflicts between the Hollywood film industry and Netflix. It especially examines Netflix's disregard for the theatrical release, as it is the most portentous issue that could reshape the film industry, and Hollywood's opposition to it as revealed through the 2019 Academy Awards where the issue was brought into sharp relief. At the same time, this paper also questions whether theatrical distribution makes a film any more cinematic by examining how Hollywood film production has been largely concentrated on tentpoles and franchises, while Netflix has been producing diverse films often shunned by the studios. In this light, it concludes the changes wrought by Netflix, including its bypassing of the theatrical release, are not likely to be reversed.