After 2020 was a total bust for the cinema industry thanks to a certain worldwide pandemic, it saw a huge boom in both streaming services and video games – two forms of entertainment best suited for staying indoors for weeks, even months at a time. Certainly, India with its huge, crowded population needed home entertainment more than ever. What does 2021 hold, though? Gaming and streaming will no doubt continue to rise and rise and rise but what about big studio movies? Will they save the cinema industry or signal the end of the entire thing?
This only applies to major movies from Europe and America, though, because Bollywood movies are so huge, especially in India but in places like South Africa and the UK as well, that Indian cinema should come through this whole nightmare unscathed. Imports, though, maybe in for a rough year.
Unsurprisingly, the entertainment industry that came out tops in 2020 was the streaming services with brand new platforms by Warner Brothers, Disney and Apple joining favourites like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The only question, though, is when will these services be available in India? Honestly, it’s probably still too early to tell but one things for sure, even on India’s more dedicated streaming services, there has been a plethora of new and old stuff to watch.
Matching the success of streaming, though, was the gaming industry with plenty of new releases holding our attention for hours upon hours while we were all stuck indoors. 2021 promises to be no different. It’s not just the latest generation of consoles, though, as online gaming on PCs, tablet and phones exploded this year too. This includes major games from Steam, indie Java games and even online casinos.
One area that really bloomed was online casinos with live dealers because they offered the best of both worlds. Players could play their favourite casino games from their own homes but rather than being limited to playing an AI, users would be able to play live, with other players from across the world. Instachat in video games makes video gaming a truly communal experience but that’s nothing in comparison to kicking back for a great game of poker with other, real-life players.
What of cinema, though? Well, that’s much more tricky. Disney and Warners will be releasing their big films next year on both their streaming services and in cinemas. It’s been a highly controversial move that threatens to cost the producers, directors and actors money off the back end and it has been called the end of cinema as we know it. With huge titles due for release next year, including Dune, The Eternals and Fast and Furious 9, it should be a big year at the movies but will the fact that these movies will be available online as well as cinema mean that no one will go out to see them or will streaming just be an extra boost and cinemas themselves will continue to attract crowds of people looking for a true cinematic experience or even a night out? Time will tell.
All we do know is that 2021 will no doubt be no less interesting than 2020 (though hopefully much less horrible) and the worldwide entertainment industry should reflect that. Come December next year who knows where we will be?