Nestor Studios, the first film studio in Hollywood, 1913. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Would anyone be surprised by a huge implosion in the film industry?
As reported by FirstShowing.net, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg recently predicted a list of dramatic adjustments, from pricing to distribution and competition from the networks. Hollywood is not immune from the upheavals that technology brings to every industry. Their presentation was held June 12 at the University of Southern California.
I’ll predict that there will be home theaters in every house in the country — and as costs go down and business models change, lots of community theaters or at least community watching events where people can gather and pick their own programming. What fun! Cheaper popcorn too!
For the full scope of the Lucas/Spielberg conversation, go to http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/steven-spielberg-george-lucas-predict-implosion-of-film-industry/ or see additional links below.
What do you see in the future of the film industry as it responds to the marketplace and reinvents itself?
Home Projectionist 
The problem with the self-destructive actions of the film industry is that it doesn’t respond to the genuine marketplace (which is not the way to proceed and always puts them years behind any legitimate “trends”) but attempts to fabricate an illusionary marketplace from their own continuously artificially inexact expectations.
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Didn’t they say something about big-budget movies becoming more rare and more expensive to see, like live theater? I imagine the idea behind this blog trending more and more — people will gather in small groups and choose their own movie(s). And a resurgence for classic film.
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Well put and poetic to boot, ChandlerSwain. It does indeed seem like a self-destructive situation, sort of fiddling while Rome burns? Yet with all the dependence on market research, how does the film industry continue to fail to respond to the marketplace? I wonder if there is one particularly strong driver or a convergence of many.
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I agree! The expanded release of the classics — or even the non-classics (I’m wallowing in old Doris Wishman these days) — is a way to produce revenue without new investment, a kind of estate sale. I’m imagining a future with a kind of “slow” or “go local” film watching experience. Perhaps every Starbucks or wine bar will be connected to a small neighborhood theater with a 10′ screen, 50 seats, computer, and a cost-effective Netflix streaming agreement for communities.
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