The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected almost every aspect of our lives. All sectors have suffered heavy financial losses, and the film industry is no exception. Several big movie releases have been postponed, films, TV shows, and web series shootings have been paused, and theaters have been shut since mid-March 2020. Given the current circumstances, movie theaters and sets are naturally a high-risk environment as they are usually packed with hundreds of people for extended time durations.

Moreover, cleaning them is really difficult and time-consuming, which makes them not at all safe for highly contagious diseases like COVID-19. Owing to the lockdown necessitated by this pandemic situation, the film industry has lost billions in revenue and is currently going through its worst phase.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Film Industry

Due to the increasing spread of COVID-19, lockdowns were implemented across the country and various parts of the world. Numerous public places, including movie theaters, were ordered to shut down their operations. This is the main reason why the film industry saw a significant drop in its revenue. Since movie production and its consumption require a large group of people together in small spaces, the film industry became vulnerable because of the coronavirus outbreak. While most production companies decided to indefinitely postpone their movie releases and halt their ongoing shootings, several film production houses chose to release their movies on OTT platforms like Disney+Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, etc.

In India, this pandemic has changed the entire consumption pattern for the film industry across the country. During the 21-day lockdown in India that was imposed on March 25, 2020, the television viewership grew by 6%, according to reports. The in-depth details of the report also revealed that movies and news were the key drivers of this growth. In addition to this, mythological TV shows have made significant contributions in increasing the viewership, even more so as two of the greatest shows based on the Sanskrit epics of ancient India – Ramayana and Mahabharata returned.

The Indian film industry felt the ripple effect of the COVID-19 crisis when various bodies like the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) and the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) took the decision to pause film, TV shows, and web series’ shooting. After this, the major film production houses, including Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, and Balaji Motion Pictures quickly canceled all production activities. In the middle of all this, various state governments ordered cinemas and movie theaters to temporarily shut their operations to control the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, the imposition of the three weeks nationwide lockdown sealed the fate of various web series, TV shows, and film projects.

Many ongoing shootings and releases have been suspended and are now looking at an uncertain future. The sets of various big-budget movies and shows are standing unused, due to which the producers are suffering heavy losses. This was also why some popular TV shows ended abruptly amid the lockdown. While the overall impact of the COVID-19 on the Indian film industry is still being evaluated, according to experts, the industry has suffered a loss of more than a thousand crores already and is staring at an even bigger loss in the year 2021. However, the daily wage earners of the film industry are arguably the most hard-hit as they are all stuck at home due to the lockdown.

OTT Streaming Platforms Gain Prominence

If there’s anyone who has genuinely benefited from this lockdown situation, it would most probably be the OTT streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. As per reports, there has been a tremendous increase in OTT consumption in terms of duration. With people forced to stay indoors to maintain social distancing and control the spread of COVID-19, online content consumption has significantly surged. More and more people are now turning to these OTT streaming platforms for entertainment. However, as people adjust to this “new normal,” the formation of habits could lead to accelerated growth of these platforms. As per reports, people are expected to prefer OTT platforms even after the lockdown ends since they have become used to enjoying content from the comforts of their home.

Getting the audiences to the movie theaters could be a challenge now. Films will have to offer something extraordinary, something that the audience can only experience in a theatre. That being said, small-budget films are now expected to find their way to digital platforms. This is because of many big releases being piled up. Once the lockdown situation settles, these big films will be clashing nearly every Friday, and most probably cause the smaller budget movies to suffer.

Post-Lockdown Challenges the Film Industry Is Expected to Face

The film industry will likely get back on track, and the business is expected to run at the maximum capacity once the fear factor gets over, and people start going out to watch movies. However, this will take time. The movie theaters will also have to prepare themselves for movie releases once the cinema services resume and take multiple measures to ensure social distancing and people’s safety. And the same goes for film production houses as well. They will need to deploy enhanced hygiene protocols and ensure social distancing and sanitization for the health and safety of their film crew. Additionally, the number of people on a film set will likely be reduced for some time, while the health precautions will increase.

Undoubtedly, the film industry has suffered a massive loss due to this pandemic, but it is also expected to bring some positive changes overall. Since the primary focus will be to compel the audience to watch their movie in the theatre, the production crew is expected to put all of their energy and efforts into making the film instead of earning from it. This will most probably result in the content quality getting better.

Wrapping It Up

Just like every other industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the film industry, resulting in billions of loss in revenue. As the film shooting continues to be halted and movie releases remain indefinitely postponed, the industry is looking at an uncertain future. Moreover, with the audiences getting used to watching digital marketing content from the comforts of their home, it will be even more difficult to convince them to step out and watch a movie in a theatre. Film production houses will have to pour in more efforts to give people something special, something they can only experience in the theatres. However, that also means the quality of the content might get much better now.