It doesn’t come as a surprise but as a shock that this year 2019 has been the worst year for the US distributors as only seven movies out of all the overseas releases either broke even for the exhibitors or made profits.
This is the worst-case scenario in the entire decade and we know the reasons behind this. Everyone saw it coming but nothing was done to curtail this. Once, the US market was booming with Movie Pass and now, it’s all a gone thing.
Producers are selling their movies for digital platforms namely Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hotstar even before the theatrical release to make profits. Naturally, no one can find fault with that.
However, the same producers are luring US distributors to buy overseas rights for high prices despite the fact that they had been killing the overseas market selling digital rights.
When a newly released movie would be available on digital platforms with an HD print, the US audiences saw no point in thronging to theatres when they can get an entire movie-watching experience at home, with family.
Currently, the US buyer is the one who was hit the worst because of this scenario, isn’t it? Will 2020 be any different? Let’s wait and see.
