Has the audience consumption of movies changed over time?
Over the course of time movies have changed drastically in terms of how they are made, who watches them, and what the movies actually show. Technology has played a huge role in not only the production quality of movies, but also the way people can watch movies. With the introduction of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, I think it’s safe to say that the movie industry has changed for the better.
First let’s talk about how it all started. For the biggest movie company in the world right now holding about 36.3% of US/CA Market Share as of 2018, Disney started off with one of the first animated movies in the world, Snow White. This movie was a simple one, made with stop-motion animation and drawings of the characters moving at high speeds through the camera roll to portray an animated character. This was obviously a kids' fantasy movie starring Snow White and her dancing 7 Dwarves, but soon the way people saw movies would change. Marvel, a subsidiary to Disney after they bought them for over $4 BIllion, would work on the movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This box office hit raked in over $860 million because of it’s humor and action packed scenes; however one thing that is often overlooked is the complexity of animation that the film had. It portrayed giant aliens and spaceship fighting scenes which, in my opinion, is a big step from flashing drawings in the Snow White movie. Time has shown that animation in movies is getting much more complex and involves much more technology then it did before. There is an 80 year difference between the release date of these movies and a slightly bigger gap in terms of when they were being worked on. Audiences are now treated with intricate yet understandable animation that brings the movies of today that are “it” factor that we’ve all grown accustomed to.
Secondly, the way people view movies has also changed. Before people would have to go to a movie theatre in order to watch a movie because those were the only places that offered the technology to display these features. Now people can watch a movie anywhere they want. Thanks to the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video people have the technology to run a full film right in their pockets. According to “The Ins and Outs of Hollywood Film Distribution,” by Jonathan Paul, “With each passing year, digital distribution is positioning itself to surpass disc-based media as the top home-entertainment revenue.” This goes to show that people used to rely on DvDs and Blu Ray disks in order for movies to be available at their homes; however, now people can use these digital viewing apps to watch these movies for almost less of a price then what a movie theatre ticket would cost.
From everything that I have presented it is clear to see that the way audiences watch these movies has undoubtedly changed over time. With the new online streaming services, the evolution of filmmaking technology , and the new ways movies are being presented, it’s clear that time has revolutionized the kinds of movies we watch.
