What? That isn’t enough? In all seriousness, to call 2020 a massive dumpster fire of a year is an egregious understatement. At this time of year, I would normally be going over what I would consider to be my favorite and least favorite movies of the year. This is usually about the theatrically released films. 2020 started with some promise with films like The Invisible Man and Underwater, both of which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, March happened and it brought the COVID-19 virus with it. The shit really hit the fan. The prospect of a potentially devastating pandemic sent the economy into a tail-spin. This thing affected EVERYBODY. The infection rates were starting to climb, so various industries started or tried to start implementing policies that would help keep the virus from spreading, i.e. wearing masks and social distancing. At that point, we had no idea why or how quickly this thing was spreading. Then the body count started rising. It wasn’t just the United States that this was affecting. It was the entire planet. Restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters had to close to contain this thing. This has been a brutal year for the global economy. But I’m not here to discuss the other industries. I’m here to discuss movies and the film industry in particular.
The film and movie theater industries are vital to the economy, at least from my point of view. The amount of money that they bring in is incredibly substantial. When the coronavirus hit, movies started getting pushed back further and further in hopes that we would get a handle on this issue. When that didn’t happen, theater were forced to close and lay off employees just so that there could be theaters in the future. As the year progressed, people began to get pissed off about the lockdowns and not being able to move about like they were able, so some lockdowns were defied by both the public and various companies, which led to massive spikes in infections and death around the United States. This situation could’ve been handled better if our administration had the balls to take this virus seriously and force a lockdown on states that were in the red. That’s how you deal with a virus like this. You don’t wait it out, and you certainly don’t allow it spread in the hopes that people will eventually become immune to it. We don’t know enough about the virus to guarantee that something like that would happen. So, back to the movies. Because people were not taking this thing seriously, most business were forced to close back down and some of them ended up closing permanently. Certain movies like Fast and Furious 9 were moved back a full year. Some were taken off the release schedule entirely while some were moved to the VOD and streaming services. Towards the end of summer, some movie theaters and film studios were going to try and risk re-opening in September with STRICT COVID-19 guidelines. The amount of people in the audiences was reduced to about half with social distancing. With guidelines in place, the infection rate from movie theaters was cut down to ZERO. The guidelines and policies were working. Any infection didn’t come from movie theaters, but everywhere else. As long as those guidelines were followed, movie theaters were actually safe.
It looked like movie theaters had a serious chance of coming back. For a bit there, after September, they did. Most movie theaters were starting to play older movies like The Empire Strikes Back and The Avengers to get people back into theaters. There was only one really new movie that hit theaters during this period and that Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Given the situation, the movie did pretty well, but it wasn’t enough to really draw audiences back. Because of that, some movie theater chains have closed back down until next year. The good news is that there a couple of really promising vaccines that are being tested between 90 and 95 percent efficacy. We probably won’t be seeing those for months however, but the work being done in those labs gives me and other hope that there will be something next year to stave off the worst pandemic in over a century. With winter coming, things are bound to get much worse before they get better, so it is incumbent of us to obey social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines, not just for ourselves, but the people around us, especially the elderly. The best Christmas gift you can give to your family this year is to be responsible and take this threat seriously. Wearing a mask is your best defense. Getting tested for the virus is paramount if you’ve been exposed to people who have it. I can tell you from personal experience that this virus is no walk in the park. Trust me when I tell you to wear your masks. To the people that have been hospitalized with this thing, I hope for your quick recovery. For those that have lost loved ones to the virus, no words of mine can assuage the pain and anguish that you feel, but you are in my thoughts along with the thousands and millions who have been afflicted. To the people on the frontlines: The doctors, nurses and EMTs who put themselves in harm’s way to help others: Thank you. The same goes to the retail workers who risk infection day in and day out to make sure that people get the supplies that they need for the dark days ahead. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s going to everybody’s cooperation to get us there. To quote The Dark Knight’s Harvey Dent: “The night is darkest just before the dawn, but I promise you: The dawn is coming.”