Suddenly, 2022 is looking eerily similar to 2021. Hollywood is again largely losing its annual season of superficial self-congratulation, but it is also seeing the movie business’s best form of advertisement undercut in a year when films desperately need it. And that could have far-reaching effects on the types of movies that get made.
Steven Spielberg directed a dance-filled musical through the streets of New York. Lady Gaga channeling her Italian roots. Will Smith is back on the big screen; this year’s award season was supposed to celebrate Hollywood’s return to glitz and glamour. No more masks, no more socially distanced award shows or Zoom acceptance speeches, and no more awards f0r films that no one knew anything about.
Coming off a challenging year that saw Oscars ratings plummet to an all-time low, Hollywood entered this awards season with a sense of guarded optimism that things were bouncing back. Now, between the Omicron spike and NBC’s decision not to televise the Golden Globes because of the ethical issues surrounding the group that hands out the awards, Hollywood’s traditionally frenetic and hype-filled first week of the calendar year has been reduced to a whisper. The AFI Awards were postponed. The Critics’ Choice Awards were pushed back. The Palm Springs Film Festival, an annual stop along the awards campaign trail, was canceled. And most of those star-driven award favorites bombed at the box office.
Shows and Golden Globe postponed
In the US, a dozen Broadway shows, including “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and “Hamilton,” have been canceled after cast members tested positive for Covid-19. Meanwhile, in Toronto, The National Ballet of Canada announced the cancellation of all remaining performances of “The Nutcracker” owing to “breakthrough cases of Covid-19 within company ranks.”
With movies facing what feels to many like an existential crisis and the box office for adult-oriented films all but decimated, few in the business are in a celebratory mood. Compounding the industry’s woes, the Golden Globe Awards, which for decades have offered a crucial marketing springboard for Oscar hopefuls, were pulled off the air by NBC in the wake of months of blistering controversy sparked by last year’s LA Times investigation of ethical lapses and representation issues inside the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the awards.
Signs of hope
In this tough movie theatre environment, insiders say that streaming releases have a distinct advantage. Compared to something that’s streaming and available, linear films, especially older ones, have a really hard time creating conversation. It’s one thing to turn on Hulu, Amazon or Netflix after dinner and watch ‘Don’t Look Up’ or ‘Being the Ricardos.’ That is very different to saying, ‘I’m going to go to this virtual screening followed by a virtual Q&A.’ As difficult as the last couple of years have been for Hollywood, many of us are rooting for the entertainment industry to reclaim its prestige and reputation in the years to come.
