Streaming services now box office gold
- Oscar success for CODA is yet more proof that the online economy is real and only getting stronger
The eye-ball catching moment of Hollywood’s annual celebration of the movie industry, the Academy Awards, was best actor winner Will Smith slapping host Chris Rock in the face for the comedian’s joke about his wife.
But the on-stage drama was a blip when it comes to what really matters where films and audiences are concerned.
This year marked a sea change from which there will be no return, streaming services having finally triumphed with CODA clinching the best picture prize for Apple TV+.
The win lays to rest arguments whether watching on a small screen with an app is cinema, ensuring the productions that have become familiar during the shutdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic gain in stature.
CODA, about the only hearing member of a deaf family, was the clearest statement yet that cinema success is not required to win Hollywood’s most coveted award. Although the film garnered acclaim at last year’s prestigious Sundance film festival, it earned just US$1.3 million at the box office.
Apple’s purchase of distribution rights gave it a far wider reach and it was soon on the right radars to win awards. On Oscars night, it beat out another contender from the streaming world, Netflix’s The Power of the Dog.
Netflix has been a trailblazer in transforming on-screen entertainment and lobbied hard to gain acceptance from Hollywood.
Oscars 2022: CODA and acting pair make history, Jane Campion wins
The American company got its first nomination from the academy in 2014, won its first Oscar in 2017 for a documentary short and last year, was the most successful studio, taking seven statues.
But it was pipped as the first to get the coveted best picture prize by Apple, one of an estimated 300 streaming services.
The argument that a film does not have to be shown in a cinema to be considered great has been bolstered by the big-budget, often star-studded productions of the major streaming firms.
But the pandemic helped, safety rules shutting cinemas and forcing Hollywood to turn to cable and online audiences. The academy changed its rules for Oscar nominations.
Circumstances have been a boon to streaming services, whose global subscription numbers have reached 1.3 billion. The digital forces that have reshaped the media, music and television have now also redefined the box office.
