The landscape of cinema is changing. With the Me Too campaign bringing about significant progress to the way that studios and film productions are being run, as well as increasing the diversity of cinematic representation, a lot of this change is positive and exciting for the industry. Here are my predictions for the year ahead, based on what I have observed both onscreen and off:
The Reckoning
Harvey Weinstein, disgraced former producer powerhouse of the Weinstein Company, is finally on trial after more than 100 women reported cases of sexual misconduct, with the trial focusing on two women’s accusations, one of which is rape, and the other a criminal sex act. The allegations gained much coverage in the international press thanks to the tireless reporting of Ronan Farrow for the New Yorker and Jodie Kanton and Megan Twohey for the New York Times, so it may surprise you to hear that Weinstein is yet to be punished legally for his actions. The world is watching how this case will be handled, and the hope for its potential delivery of justice will be a landmark moment for victims of sexual assault, showing that powerful men can no longer get away with such obscene criminality, least of all by forcing their victim to sign an NDA and threatening them into silence.
Academy Shake-ups
It wasn’t that long ago that the Oscars faced the ‘Oscars So White’ controversy – only five years ago – and we were promised that such unrepresentative lack of diversity would no longer be an issue for future awards. Yet, this year’s Oscars directors are all male and almost all white (if not for Bong Joon Ho). The BAFTAs also faced a similar controversy, which is a ridiculous state of affairs in a year of such strong women filmmakers as Greta Gerwig for Little Women, Alma Har’el for Honey Boy, and Jennifer Kent for The Nightingale. Bafflingly, the BAFTAs even released a statement, expressing their “disappointment” at the lack of diversity in their own awards. This seemingly never-ending cycle of snubs for excellent diverse art needs to be addressed; whether the methods of voting change, or the people allowed to vote in them, it seems inevitable that the academies are going to have to address this problem very soon – or lose respect from the audiences they are supposed to represent.
Streaming Wars
With the launches of several of Netflix and Amazon’s new competition, 2020 will be the year of streaming. Will festivals such as Cannes, who banned Netflix from competition a couple of years ago due to their strict exhibition criteria, begin to embrace them? Venice certainly has, with Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach, 2019) and The King (David Michôd, 2019) receiving big premieres at the end of summer. Toronto, London and Berlinale have also embraced these films from streamers, which gives a unique opportunity to see these cinematic films on the big screen with high-profile premieres. It is unclear as to whether Netflix intends to extend the cinematic runs of its big-hitters, but due to the success of The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019) and Marriage Story in the cinema, the audience demand is certainly there. Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Quibi, Apple TV+, BritBox, and more, are all joining the battle for the title of Streamer Supreme. With an already over-saturated market of content, not all will survive. It’s definitely going to be bloody (and hopefully a good watch).
The End of the MCU’s Golden Age
It seems unreasonable for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to achieve the heights of Avengers: Endgame (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, 2019) so soon after becoming the biggest film in the world, and Spider-Man: Far From Home (Jon Watts, 2019), and the upcoming Black Widow (Cate Shortland, 2020) seem to suggest that they’re not aiming for such ambitions just yet. However, with the recent loss of Scott Derrickson from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems like they’re falling out of favour with creatively bold and interesting ambitions from their filmmakers. I would say I have faith in Kevin Feige, but he is, after all, under the influence of Disney, who made similar mistakes with the Star Wars franchise, and look at what they did to create the pathetic Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, 2019). Their greedy handling of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man almost lost them one of their most beloved Avengers, and I cannot imagine that the deal between Sony and Disney is going to last much longer beyond the current appeasement deal of a couple more films. Now that Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2020) has pretty much been confirmed to take place in the MCU (as shown by Michael Keaton’s Vulture in the trailer, and graffiti of Spidey with the word “murderer” sprawled across it), we also have that hot mess to look forward to. At least the next Venom is being directed by Andy Serkis. Can the Disney+ shows, Deadpool, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four save the MCU? Maybe, but any development of these productions is still very secretive.
