It is very possible that the corona will soon become a thing of the past, or at most shrink into a negligible nuisance that will not particularly affect the routine of our lives, but one thing is for sure - the worlds of entertainment and media will not return to what they were before the plague.
After all, only two years ago, if they had told me that in a few weeks the biggest box office hits would skip the movie screens and be released straight to streaming;
That top-notch musicians will adopt virtual identities and hold live performances within such a quirky and matrix thing called "Mtavers";
And that a relatively obscure video calling app called "Zoom" would become the world's leading media outlet almost overnight - I would grin politely.
New entertainment order
Movies?
True, streaming services are the future and cinemas are an endangered species, but forget that blockbusters like
"The Black Widow
," "Mulan,
" "Wonder Woman 1984"
and
"Dune"
will hold their premieres in our home living room.
This will happen, at the earliest, in the next decade.
Scarlett Johansson in "The Black Widow," Photo: From the movie
And yes, it's clear that virtual reality is the next thing, but there's no way
Justin Bieber
will give up on tens of thousands of noisy and sweaty fans crammed into a huge stadium and appear instead, as a digital character, inside VR kits most of us still don't have.
Live virtual performances are indeed a nice idea that can save a lot of money, resources and also worry for parents, but another vision for the date.
Flash-Forward 24 months and five waves of illness, and the reality of our media consumption has changed.
While it is very possible that the corona has not yet said the last word and it is hiding under its sleeve a sixth wave, it is hard to ignore that unlike previous wave endings, the post-Omicron world is starting to remind us of the pre-plague days.
There are already flights and vacations without isolation, and there are restaurants, sporting events, movies and shows without a green label.
On the other hand, there is also a twist in the plot: this new world, at least in the opinion of the writer of these lines, is completely different from what was here before it, at least in terms of our entertainment media consumption habits.
People just got used to spending more time at home, and Corona has accelerated the technologies that allow us to do it better, more comfortably and more efficiently.
Justin Bieber in Israel, 2017, Photo: Coco
Walt sends popcorn
?
Most movie theaters have reopened.
Fresh movies still hit the screens every week.
Leading studios like Disney and the Warner Bros. have largely given up on releasing their heavy artillery strategies for streaming only, but make no mistake - the film industry has changed.
For every cinematic event like
"Spider-Man: There's No Way Home,"
which smashes blockbusters thanks to plot precedents not to be missed ("Doctor Strange 2" and "The Flash" that will be released later this year are expected to be such films), quite a few high-budget productions - which are not locations Established cinemas - will land in our living room very quickly compared to the past.
The general assumption is that if before the Corona a "big" movie reached streaming after 90 days on the screens, now it is a time window of 60 days or less, depending on its box office success.
A representative example: Universal Studios, which is responsible for brands like "Jurassic Park", "Fast and Furious" and "Minions", are expected to launch on the streaming service they own, Peacock, most of their films within 45 days of arriving at the cinema.
Universal even recently released "Marry Me," the new romantic comedy with
Jennifer Lopez
, for streaming and cinema that very day.
There is no doubt that this trend will continue even after the Corona, with films on medium and low budgets that do not boast special effects and do not need to be watched on a huge screen.
"Spider-Man: There's No Way Home", Photo: From the movie
Almost every major Hollywood distribution company now has a private streaming service, and that's before we even mentioned Netflix, Apple and Amazon, the bitter rivalries of theaters, which today, more than ever, manage to entice the best Hollywood stars to participate in their award-winning movies and series.
Since almost everyone today subscribes to one streaming service or another, the logic is that the new movies will enjoy far more views than in theaters.
Private performance in pajamas
And there's the Matevers - a grandiose word that actually represents the next stage of the internet.
For those who are a little less up-to-date, this is a world made up of shared 3D virtual spaces, where you can hang out, meet and socialize with other people (instead of just talking to them in chat, for example).
And yes, it also includes attending meetings and events such as exhibitions, fashion shows, plays and live shows.
How do you do that?
Well, the ambition is that we will simply put on our sophisticated virtual reality helmet, maybe even grab accessories or move in front of sensors that will convert our body movements into the digital world, and hope the internet connection does not falter or God forbid it hangs and freezes our avatar (virtual character) in an awkward pose.
Leading media, gaming and technology companies like Meta, HTC, Sony and others have already launched their own virtual reality kits, which are becoming more sophisticated from version to version.
Apple is expected to unveil its kit this year, and rumor has it that Google is also working on a competing product.
Avatars from the seventies.
Abba, Photo: PR
The next step in Matevers' super-plan is to put such a kit (or four) under each roof, and allow people to leave the house - without leaving the house.
Although the trend is still in its infancy, there is no doubt that the corona has accelerated the process.
Meta, for example, has already held some free Matevers performances by artists like David Geta and The Chainsmokers;
Justin Bieber made a brief virtual appearance on the Wave music platform a few months ago;
De Weekend is a member of Tiktok, while Ariana Grande and
Travis Scott
Performed on Fortnight in front of millions of young viewers.
While not all of these performances were in 3D, some just allowed viewers to change their angle of view and others were described as very disappointing (especially those of Meta), and as a result should be seen as nothing more than tool experiments.
However, one can be sure that artists on the scale of Bieber and Granada would not have rushed to appear online had it not been for the plague, and as home technology becomes better, cheaper and more accessible, more and more big names will join the celebration.
While traditional live performances will not disappear from the world, how many artists will give up the possibility of selling millions of tickets for one show - in one go - without crossing countries and continents?
And how many fans will give up a front row in a live 3D show without leaving the house - and their pajamas?
exactly.
The corona may be on its way out, but the processes it has accelerated are only just beginning.
Were we wrong?
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