Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018

The Latest Hollywood Trend

Jonathan Blum

When was the last time you watched a film at the movie theatre or better yet, checked movie listings? You would be surprised by the answers to these questions. Our mobile phones give us à la carte movies, but, do you know the latest trends in the world of cinema?

In a previous post I mentioned that biopics were becoming the new stars of television but it is no longer exclusively happening on the small screen. They are also gaining ground in films, with many new movie productions adapting a character’s life and showing us part of their story.

Biographical movies are not the only trend in the world of motion pictures. So are productions for Over the Top (OTT) platforms that never play on the big screen and instead go straight to internet. What does this all mean for Hollywood?

First, from the business point of view, the box office is no longer the main source of revenue for producers. Second, from the technical point of view, sound and images are changing, which is neither good nor bad, just different. And lastly, there is the point of view of the awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created a new category for the most popular movie but later decided to postpone it until 2020. Is it perhaps because they will create yet another category for internet productions? Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s movie, “Roma”, which will premier on Netflix at the end of the year, is already being mentioned for possible 2019 Oscar nominations in the major categories. Will “Roma” be the first feature film made for streaming platforms to win an Oscar?

Getting back to the subject of biopics, are movie producers feeling a sense of nostalgia too? I doubt it. It is more likely that the formula of adapting nostalgic elements to audiovisual products also worked for Hollywood. Over the next few weeks, we’ll see Rami Malek play the role of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and Ryan Gosling play the part of Neil Armstrong in First Man.

The exciting thing about these films are the facets of the main characters they will be revealing, showing them from different angles and the twists in their stories. It’s the time of the year in which the release of new movies are more relevant because they create buzz about which of them are possible Academy Award winners.

I’ll get back to the awards in future posts but for now, what movies are you excited to watch soon?