Entertainment: Bug accelerates digital destiny

While the pandemic negatively affected almost every aspect of the entertainment industry over the past several months, "the video game industry's already high profile rose even more in the US economy and society", said a report from the Entertainment Software Association.

Video games have been a source of entertainment, stress relief and escapism for individuals social distancing in their homes, as well as an avenue for much needed social interaction through multiplayer networks, according to the report.

US sales for video games and hardware increased 73 percent and 163 percent, respectively, in last April over the same month in 2019, according to market research company The NPD Group. Game publishers expect the sales boom they saw last year to stay.

"We expect that as new players engage and form in-game connections with existing or new friends, many of them will stay engaged for the long term, and we see this as a really big opportunity," Daniel Alegre, COO of Activision Blizzard, told Gameindustry.biz.

Studios and cinemas have been among those hardest-hit in the entertainment industry during the pandemic. After months of surging cases in California, several Hollywood guilds and labor unions are recommending that in-person production of television shows and independent films be temporarily halted.

Warner Bros and Netflix stopped filming a few shows last month, according to Variety. Universal also halted filming on six shows.

As the pandemic continues to rage across the US, and as California becomes the coronavirus epicenter of the country, the film industry has halted production again after a shutdown in March last year, when California issued a strict stay-at-home order.

State health officials authorized shoots to restart in June. Hollywood studios and entertainment unions agreed to a new set of safety protocols for TV and film crews in September, which have increased production costs for studios.

The global film and television industries are projected to lose $160 billion in growth over the next five years, according to research by Ampere Analysis in May.

In the US, the world's largest moviemaking market, box office revenue for 2020 is estimated at $2.3 billion, compared with $11.4 billion in 2019, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

For the first time, China supplanted North America as the world's top moviegoing market last year, generating an estimated $2.7 billion in ticket sales.

Theaters will be hardest hit. The global cinema market is expected to contract sharply for the next few years, with cinemas forced to close and major Hollywood releases delayed.

Cinema revenue is projected to drop globally by 65 percent to $15.5 billion in 2024 from $45.1 billion in 2019, according to consultancy firm PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2020-2024.

While attendance has returned in some countries such as China and South Korea, the US, which leads the world in COVID-19 casualties, has failed to recover.

In the US, cinemas remain closed in Washington, Oregon, Illinois, New Mexico and Minnesota, while other states permit reopening by region or at reduced capacities, according to the CinemaSafe website.

The nation's more than 5,400 cinemas were abruptly closed in last March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Fewer than half of the locations are open now, and some have gone dark permanently, according to the National Association of Theater Owners, which also warns that 70 percent of small to midsize movie theaters are at risk of shutting down without federal aid.

Studios have been forced to either release movies online at a loss or postpone their biggest films in the hope that the world will return to a pre-pandemic normal this year. Those big titles that have been sent to streaming platforms due to the pandemic include Warner Bros' Wonder Woman 1984 and Disney's Soul on Dec 25, as well as Mulan in September.