Effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Entertainment & Tourism Industry

[Legacy]

I’m quite disappointed. Way less about COVID but the lack of creative thinking and solutions.

Through hardship comes innovation. This is the opportunity for film studios to innovate, theatres to innovate, Broadway to innovate.

where are the ingenues creating the evolution of these institutions?

Well, there is “A Killer Party,” which is a musical made in the time of COVID. Broadway performers (include some bigger names like Laura Osnes) played their roles from home and it’s edited together in a zoom meeting format.

And they made “Love in the Time of Corona,” a more traditional show that was filmed with remote cameras to eliminate production crew size.

There are two main hurdles to innovation though. The first is time. Any sort of new production can take a year or two before it actually sees the light of day. New musicals typically take several years before they’re good enough for Broadway. The innovative that has occurred has had fun results, but not necessarily quality results. That’s why you’re not really hearing about them.

The second issue relates to unions. A lot productions are contractually required to operate with union workers and the then specific ways. Adjusting to that will take a while.

I was referring to Disneyland

Gotcha.

 

[Teebin]

People sure are eager to get away this weekend. My tourist town is packed with visitors even more so than early August. NY and MA were driving the park loop road as if it were the NJ turnpike. At 5:30, the sidewalk in front of my house was mobbed with people from hotels and inns walking to ill health dinner downtown. Maine just switched to phase 4. After this weekend, let’s see how that goes.

 

[JoeCamel]

People sure are eager to get away this weekend. My tourist town is packed with visitors even more so than early August. NY and MA were driving the park loop road as if it were the NJ turnpike. At 5:30, the sidewalk in front of my house was mobbed with people from hotels and inns walking to ill health dinner downtown. Maine just switched to phase 4. After this weekend, let’s see how that goes.

2 weeks
Always 2 weeks to see the result.

 

[Mad Dog]

People sure are eager to get away this weekend. My tourist town is packed with visitors even more so than early August. NY and MA were driving the park loop road as if it were the NJ turnpike. At 5:30, the sidewalk in front of my house was mobbed with people from hotels and inns walking to ill health dinner downtown. Maine just switched to phase 4. After this weekend, let’s see how that goes.

Just got back from our Fall ride through the mountains. Ohiopyle town and state park was so packed that every parking spot in the park, people's lawns in the town, and cars parked out to 3 miles from the park on the side of the road. Never saw anything so remotely crowded in all the years going up there. The country roads were as crowded with vehicles as the main roads in the city of Pittsburgh....Fall colors were absolutely amazing this year. USA Today rated our autumn foliage as the third best in the world, and it lived up to that this year.

 

[Teebin]

Never saw anything so remotely crowded in all the years going up there.

Exactly and crazy to hear that it is happening everywhere. And what is more, there were hundreds of cars parked in the roads to climb mountains and trails... the cliff trails here are 1’ wide at best and with hundreds climbing up and back down the same trail... there is a limit to outdoor safety when you are passing folks at intercourse distance.

“Hey, yeah... I’m coming down. Could you please back off the trail 6’-8’ so I can pass by?”

 

[Mad Dog]

Exactly and crazy to hear that it is happening everywhere. And what is more, there were hundreds of cars parked in the roads to climb mountains and trails... the cliff trails here are 1’ wide at best and with hundreds climbing up and back down the same trail... there is a limit to outdoor safety when you are passing folks at intercourse distance.

“Hey, yeah... I’m coming down. Could you please back off the trail 6’-8’ so I can pass by?”

Perhaps one positive result of covid is that I'm sure it got people out to the state and national parks who rarely, if ever, frequented the parks before. Once you've experienced
the natural beauty & atmosphere of the parks, you can't help but keep coming back. We've been doing this for a long time, but never really ran into many others that did the same.
But that's certainly changed, for the better.

 

[Legacy]

MLS postpones two more Week 17 matches following positive COVID test results | MLSSoccer.com

MLS postpones two more Week 17 matches

www.mlssoccer.com

 

[lowbudget]

For those of you who have been following along, our 2020 numbers were better than our 2019 numbers on our rental properties. Across the area everyone appears to have had a flat or slightly down year, no major dip in total revenue for the season. Lot more reservations within the 14 day window, more regional travel, less out of state folks, and the season dragged into the fall which it doesn't typically do. 2020 was a much different year, serving a different demographic than usual, with a very steep learning curve, but overall not a bad year.

 

[Disneyhead]

For those of you who have been following along, our 2020 numbers were better than our 2019 numbers on our rental properties. Across the area everyone appears to have had a flat or slightly down year, no major dip in total revenue for the season. Lot more reservations within the 14 day window, more regional travel, less out of state folks, and the season dragged into the fall which it doesn't typically do. 2020 was a much different year, serving a different demographic than usual, with a very steep learning curve, but overall not a bad year.

How to reservations around Thanksgiving and Christmas looking?

 

[Mad Dog]

For those of you who have been following along, our 2020 numbers were better than our 2019 numbers on our rental properties. Across the area everyone appears to have had a flat or slightly down year, no major dip in total revenue for the season. Lot more reservations within the 14 day window, more regional travel, less out of state folks, and the season dragged into the fall which it doesn't typically do. 2020 was a much different year, serving a different demographic than usual, with a very steep learning curve, but overall not a bad year.

Seems like people still strongly want to vacation and holiday, but they've altered their habits a bit so they don't have to travel by air, or be limited by wearing masks. Thus destinations that are primarily outdoor attractions have done OK. State parks and beach resorts have had booming business throughout the covid crisis.

 

[lowbudget]

How to reservations around Thanksgiving and Christmas looking?

Empty for us, our season typically comes to an abrupt halt after Labor Day, but bookings continued into early October this year. However the 14-day plus booking numbers for the region are tracking a few percentage points ahead of last year's numbers. Its hard for us to compete in the off season as an off beach house, when you can get an ocean front penthouse for $100/night.

Overall based on everyone I've talked to I think most people are going to come out of 2020 a little down from 2019, but in a better position than they expected in March. Based on the recent capacity limits being hit with the theme parks, I hope they are having a similar experience. Its not fun, but its not as bad as it could be.

 

[Mad Dog]

Empty for us, our season typically comes to an abrupt halt after Labor Day, but bookings continued into early October this year. However the 14-day plus booking numbers for the region are tracking a few percentage points ahead of last year's numbers. Its hard for us to compete in the off season as an off beach house, when you can get an ocean front penthouse for $100/night.

Overall based on everyone I've talked to I think most people are going to come out of 2020 a little down from 2019, but in a better position than they expected in March. Based on the recent capacity limits being hit with the theme parks, I hope they are having a similar experience. Its not fun, but its not as bad as it could be.

The number of people in the state parks and on the bike trails here have been unbelievable. Pa. state officials are saying double to triple the normal attendance. And as for local western Pa. recreation, our amateur adult soccer league, every age group division, have been running full tilt for a month, or so, without incident. That's almost 100 teams.

 

[MrBlonde]

Disney is restructuring effective immediately to a single media organization rather than silo out theatrical and streaming separately. Parks and Products are still separated for now.

Disney says its 'primary focus' for entertainment is streaming — announces a major reorg

Disney is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions, as streaming becomes the most important facet of the company's business.

www.cnbc.com

 

[GadgetGuru]

Disney is restructuring effective immediately to a single media organization rather than silo out theatrical and streaming separately. Parks and Products are still separated for now.

Disney says its 'primary focus' for entertainment is streaming — announces a major reorg

Disney is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions, as streaming becomes the most important facet of the company's business.

www.cnbc.com

This is really fascinating.

There’s a bunch of movies that have gotten surprising bumps from streaming. Netflix releases one maybe monthly. Palm Springs on Hulu was way bigger than should have been expected.

No blockbuster has ever been bigger on streaming than it would’ve been otherwise. Netflix keeps trying to put blockbuster movies out and they all fizzle. Who remembers Six Underground?

I honestly don’t know how this goes down. There’s a reason that the parks don’t really have attractions based on TV or streaming. For whatever reason, movie theater films have long-term cultural impact that no TV or streaming project has ever matched.

 

[youhow2]

This is really fascinating.

There’s a bunch of movies that have gotten surprising bumps from streaming. Netflix releases one maybe monthly. Palm Springs on Hulu was way bigger than should have been expected.

No blockbuster has ever been bigger on streaming than it would’ve been otherwise. Netflix keeps trying to put blockbuster movies out and they all fizzle. Who remembers Six Underground?

I honestly don’t know how this goes down. There’s a reason that the parks don’t really have attractions based on TV or streaming. For whatever reason, movie theater films have long-term cultural impact that no TV or streaming project has ever matched.

Well, to be fair to streaming, as a format it hasn't received the true $100+ million dollar blockbuster it deserved. I think everyone is still trying to figure out how to milk the most money from it, and until they do the releases are going to be very "reserved", or it'll be directors taking money to do whatever. The closest it's had to something "legitimate" has been "The Irishman"... I think high budget shows is where streaming is eventually going to settle in for good and hit it's stride.

Anyone remember NBC's Dracula with Jonathan Rhys Meyers? Ahead of it's time. Was not made for a friday night time slot, was made to be binged over the course of a day.


Another note, There's something to be said about going to view a film in theaters. It's a social outing, an event. You make memories with people that you associate with the viewing of that film subconsciously. Typically once it starts there is etiquette associated with the viewing where you cast your undivided attention to the film. At home you run out of beer and hit the fridge multiple times, pop some more pizza bites in the microwave and are usually viewing in a windowed room with your cell phone on sitting besides you. It changes the way you view and remember the film.

 

[awhen]

Typically once it starts there is etiquette associated with the viewing where you cast your undivided attention to the film.

There is?

 

[Mad Dog]

Seems almost primitive, but in the 50's and 60's early TV (and the earliest 50's tv sets were about 12 inch black & white screens) nearly KO'd the movie theater business. For a bit, the studios backed off of big budget movies in the late 60's and made some really good small budget films. Of course Jaws & Star Wars brought the big budgets roaring back. Bottom line. Don't write off movie theaters. They're an entertainment venue in themselves. They'll survive, and perhaps become stronger, and maybe a bit different. . Things work in cycles. Once covid is gone people will be eager for 'date' nights again, outside their homes, no matter the quality of their home entertainment systems.

 

[Alicia]

Seems almost primitive, but in the 50's and 60's early TV (and the earliest 50's tv sets were about 12 inch black & white screens) nearly KO'd the movie theater business. For a bit, the studios backed off of big budget movies in the late 60's and made some really good small budget films. Of course Jaws & Star Wars brought the big budgets roaring back. Bottom line. Don't write off movie theaters. They're an entertainment venue in themselves. They'll survive, and perhaps become stronger, and maybe a bit different. . Things work in cycles. Once covid is gone people will be eager for 'date' nights again, outside their homes, no matter the quality of their home entertainment systems.

It may be hard to predict how, but I agree, theaters will make a big comeback.

I know I’ll be going out A LOT when this is all over. For now, dinner and a movie out are the only two things I’ve been avoiding due to safety of being indoors with others for prolonged times—so you better believe I’m going to want to make up for lost time when this ends.

 

[Skold]

Studios pushed back hard against BetaMax and VHS; it worked out. Movies will find a way.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Seems almost primitive, but in the 50's and 60's early TV (and the earliest 50's tv sets were about 12 inch black & white screens) nearly KO'd the movie theater business. For a bit, the studios backed off of big budget movies in the late 60's and made some really good small budget films. Of course Jaws & Star Wars brought the big budgets roaring back. Bottom line. Don't write off movie theaters. They're an entertainment venue in themselves. They'll survive, and perhaps become stronger, and maybe a bit different. . Things work in cycles. Once covid is gone people will be eager for 'date' nights again, outside their homes, no matter the quality of their home entertainment systems.

Actually that's funny, my friends in high school always told me that taking a girl to a movie as a date was a bad idea, since you don't really spend time interacting with each other.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, what they were probably trying to tell me was that it wasn't "good first date" material but nevertheless still good for casual nights out with long-term partners?