This video by Clownfish TV discusses the mergers and acquisitions of Hollywood studios, either by each other, or by Big Tech. The coronavirus lockdowns were catastrophic for Hollywood, but Silicon Valley is coming through bigger than ever. Movie theaters are being replaced by streaming services, but there are currently too many options to make it in the market. After Amazon bought MGM last week, it looks likely that studios will exist to serve the survivors of the streaming wars. Whatever happens to Hollywood, this is a wonderful opportunity for independent creators.
In the video, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles start by reading a Deadline article about Lionsgate Studios. It is suspected Lionsgate will be the next studio to be gobbled up. Lionsgate owns Starz, so their likely buyer will have a streaming service ready-made. The Deadline article notes that mergers tend to happen in waves. Amazon bought MGM, and AT&T sold Warner Media to Discovery, so there will likely be more this year.
This comes at a time when Hollywood’s creativity is drying up. The 21st Century is rife with reboots and remakes of older franchises. Companies find it easier to acquire other studios and their intellectual properties than to make new stories. This is exemplified by Disney. They own Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, The Muppets, ESPN, and 20th Century Fox. Disney has made a few original in-house movies, like “Frozen” and “Wreck-It Ralph,” but has gone overboard producing live action remakes of their animated classics. Those remakes made money for a while, but the live action “Mulan” was a turning point. It was offensive to Chinese audiences, yet Disney colluded with the CCP so much it outraged Western audiences.
Hollywood corporations care too much about intellectual properties, and not enough about what made those properties great. This will get worse as tech companies get involved. Amazon is making a Prime series based on Lord Of The Rings, but Tolkien fans are not enthused. Watch any pop culture YouTube channel like Nerdrotic to get a sample of fans’ reactions. Hollywood and Big Tech, and almost every other global corporation, listen to Twitter more than YouTube. Therefore, far left identity politics drive their agendas, and drive away paying customers.
It’s not surprising, though, that Hollywood and the Corporate Media would distrust YouTubers. YouTube undercuts their very business model. By working out of their spare rooms, YouTube creators generate compelling content and citizen journalism- for a fraction of the budget a corporate studio spends. Video games have famously overtaken the film industry in revenue, and gaming is a dominant subject on YouTube. Anyone with creative talent is probably doing their own thing, leaving Hollywood with the hacks and bootlickers. Rather than streaming services fighting to be the next Netflix, the real revolution might be video platforms fighting to be the next YouTube.
