Matt Damon perfectly explains streaming’s effect on the movie industry



    by Scaulbylausis

    39 Comments

    1. Accomplished_Gap4918 on

      He articulated that better than any line he’s had to deliver in a performance. 

      Hollywood is dying, and good riddance. 

      Soon the tech to make a movie will be domesticated and feature quality films can be made for pennies on the dollar of todays technocratic film industry.

      Unions and organized crime run hollywood and no one is allowed to talk about it.

    2. Shit have you been to the theater lately? It cost an arm and a leg for two tickets, two drinks, and a bowl of popcorn.

    3. YesNoComment on

      It’s a similar situation with the music industry. No one is buying physical media and just streaming. Most musicians make a bit off live shows but that’s usually the ones playing at least theaters and stadiums. Technology has actually made it easier to create but much harder to make a living and reduced the worth of music in general. Really sad for anyone dealing with AI taking their positions at ad agencies and web companies. Just feed the AI the old hires templates and old work, boom… laid off with AI doing their job IN THEIR STYLE. It’s really nuts.

    4. So I guess the streaming revenue is only a fraction of what they used to get from DVD’s?

    5. Paternitytestsforall on

      I’m here for “artists” who have more money than god getting cut off at the knees. The entertainment industry adds little to no societal value and needs an overhaul. If you want to have a good time then tell Michael Bay and Tom Cruise to fuck off and pick up a hobby that doesn’t include sitting on your ass imbibing mindless entertainment at the expense of your mental and physical health.

    6. face4theRodeo on

      Maybe if the price of the talent and the crew wasn’t as astronomical as it is, movies could be made for less and therefore better movies could be made and still be profitable. Idk what the pay is now, but back in the late 90s early oughts you could make a killing just scouting locations for movies. 1997- $3500/ wk plus meals, hotel, transportation, gas money and per diem for 2 months of shooting a 6mil$ made for tv lifetime movie. $35k for 10 weeks.

    7. so streaming sucks for both actors and consumers… why havent we gone back to DVDs yet?

    8. This is a big reason for the recent Hollywood strike. Streaming shifted the industry pretty hard.

      Most folks are paid one-and-done (smaller roles/projects) or get royalties on media purchases. Streaming is a subscription, not a DVD sale, so there is little to no royalties.

      However, with streaming, things can go viral, which could see an explosion of views and content consumption with no compensation to the people who made it happen.

      The whole paradigm has shifted.

    9. The thing about a DVDs is that supermarkets and tv shops bought a lot, and if they didn’t sell they just took a hit, adjusted the price downward till it was sold, but they had still paid full price, that was a lot of extra money they sort of say got for free, maybe the actors need to be paid a little less to make the wheels go round.

    10. freeshipping808 on

      So basically a great movie like Rounders would not get made today. Instead we get another Godzilla movie which is mostly just a green screen and cgi

    11. I wonder why it costs so much to make movies. Like, why is the cost of health-care so much?

    12. ChodeCookies on

      Good on Matt Damon for making explaining how tech disruption impacted his movie style…rather than most actors takes about fans and not appreciating art.

    13. user_generated_5160 on

      I’d infer that advancements in technology are really whats changing the way we consume media and they haven’t figured out how to exploit that yet or have they?

    14. If I could actually buy and own a digital copy and my access to that digital copy never be prevented, I would choose that over streaming.

    15. There’s also the massive change in the way theaters work. These days movies are in theaters for a few weeks to maybe 2 months (at the extreme) depending on performance, but very rarely is it longer than that. Then within 40 days or so the movies hit streaming.

      it wasn’t always like that though. If a movie was still making good money, it stayed in the theater as long as possible. The matrix was a big hit so it stayed in the theater for almost 6 months. Nearly half a year. Crazy by modern standards. Once it left theaters it didn’t hit home video, ppv, or the movie channels. It was just gone. For months and months, maybe even a year, the movie was just unavailable.

      Eventually it would hit the “second run theaters”. These don’t really exist in any meaningful number these days, but back then they were the shit. They only showed one movie, a ticket was a dollar, and that movie would be in there for so long. These theaters are usually the older cinemas that were supplanted by the multiplexes. Every theater these days had 10+ screens, but these were old school. They often had really cool architecture and just all around cool vibes.

      Eventually movies would leave those theaters and make their way to home video. Even then you’d have to rent it unless you wanted to spend an exorbitant amount on a tape, and you likely couldn’t even find a source to buy a legit copy. That shit was kept out the public’s hands almost up until VHS was made obsolete.

      At each of these steps the movie keeps generating money. It was a great racket, but we don’t live in those days anymore. What comes across as something of a lament from Damon is really just a guy, and an industry, that’s out of touch with how people spend their time. If they ever figure out that they’re throwing their money away on marketing maybe we’ll get more variety at the theater.

    16. Matt Damon does a great job explaining the ins and outs of Hollywood. I would listen to a podcast of just him and maybe Ben discussing the changing landscape of film from where they began and where they are now.

    17. Master_thyself92 on

      I’ve always wondered do actors get paid after the film is made or before?
      Also who pays them? The production company or what?

    18. When I really enjoy a film, I still buy it on DVD – I’m glad to know I’m helping the industry stay afloat (a teeny tiny contribution but, eh, better than nothing).
      I will also rent movies I really want to watch but, it’s true that streaming has killed the industry. It’s not doing well ans it pains me to see it as I work in it because I fucking love movies.

      It’s all very sad 😔

    19. Having an actor explaining how technology is fucking up the smaller parts of his industry leaving only the big sharks to succeed while he’s eating hot wings is so so so dystopian. I may need to look back on those dystopian stories from my youth. They may not look so absurd now.

    20. Certain-Spring2580 on

      I always get a physical copy if I can. I don’t like the idea that a streamer can take away a movie from their platform forever and I won’t have a copy of it to watch anymore.

    21. alphabetsong on

      I think this is a great opportunity in the midst of rising AI technology for smaller teams to be able to combat the storytelling abilities of blockbuster Cinema.

      I firmly believe that we’re moving away from centralised storytelling, a.k.a. Hollywood and we’re moving to decentralised storytelling a.k.a. back to the grandma bedtime stories.

      For some reason, we believed that making movies as a giant industry that needs to exist. For thousands of years we only had theatres where the local orchestra plate and sometimes the travelling musician or theatre gig.

      Will not go away, they will just change and those who have gotten too used to making money off of the same system again and again are those who are getting caught in the cold.

      There are thousands of moviemaking majors out there without any chance of ever getting a job in Hollywood, but when they leave university, they will have the AI tools to be able to replace an entire production team and show us their vision.

    22. When was the last time you bought a DVD or Blue Ray ?

      Honnestly besides collector editions with extended scenes, and also animes that i couldn’t find on streaming, none.

      The only dvd i by is never for the movie itself, or just when it’s not avaliable on streaming. It also happened to me to rent on demand a movie.

    23. advertisingdave on

      But who makes up the rule about the PNA spend? Is that just based on historical data and estimates? Why not just experiment with other marketing channels?

      Billboards are expensive in high traffic markets and print ads and PR are ridiculously pricey. I think there should be more stunts and ways to inspire more user generated content. Like create a campaign encouraging people to share things like a super unique contest and build PR around that. Obviously this isn’t the cure all but it’s a start.

    24. The problem is people still buy the movies and streaming platform still pay for their movies to be on their platform.

      The revenue has adjusted, but it is still there

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