From Paramount to Prime: The Battle for Theaters in a Streaming Age
By: Brooke Gerber
At this year’s Academy Awards, Sean Baker’s Anora dominated the evening, winning a total of five Oscars – an impressive feat for the independent film.[1] Now that Hollywood’s biggest night has come to a close, Baker’s acceptance speech for Best Director stands out as one of the highlights of the evening, criticizing streaming services for their monopolistic impact on the film industry.
Taking the stage for the third time that night, Baker made a self-proclaimed “battle cry,” pleading for filmmakers to continue making films for the big screen rather than succumbing to the allure of streaming.[2] Audiences have witnessed the cinema experience decline throughout the past decade, especially following the onset of the pandemic. Baker referred to this phenomenon in his speech, highlighting that upward of 1,000 movie screens have shut down in the United States since 2020 – “right now, the theatre-going experience is under threat,”[3] he exclaimed.
