If you’ve been on our website recently, you might have noticed that some unusual things are turning up at the top. You’re right. And here’s why.
Back when COVID-19 really began to take hold, we made the decision to move our “DVD & Streaming” section of the site to the top of the homepage, since movies in theaters were no longer happening for most folks. (And when theaters once again reopen en masse, we’ll eventually switch it back. But we’re not quite there yet.)
Now, back in the pre-pandemic era, what showed up in this section were theatrical films that were now available on video, and a handful of high-profile original streaming movies on the likes of Netflix or Amazon. But even those were fairly rare.
Well, we all know what happened next. COVID-19 nuked everything and turned the status quo upside down. These days, Netflix and Amazon are arguably the biggest producers of new movies, while the handful of theatrical releases out there are struggling mightily—even big, highly anticipated films. In its five-week run in theaters, for example, Wonder Woman 1984 has netted a paltry $37 million domestically. (It’s done about $150 million worldwide, in contrast to the first Wonder Woman’s $822 million global cume.) Far more people likely saw it on HBO Max, where it was released simultaneously.
But it’s not just new movies on those services and others (Hulu, CBS All Access, Peacock, etc.) that are attracting eyeballs these days. Often, older movies enjoying a new run on a given service gain traction, too. This week, for instance, Homefront (2013) and The Next Three Days (2010) are at Nos. 4 and 2, respectively, on Netflix’s “Top 10 in the U.S. Today” ranking list. One of the new movies this month on Amazon is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). (Amazon doesn’t rank its content’s streaming popularity in the same way that Netflix does.)
So this week, you’ll find all three of those films at the top of our homepage, along with new streaming releases (such as Charming) and movies still making the “normal” journey from the big screen to smaller ones (News of the World). Even with films like that, however, the traditional 90-day “window” (as the industry calls it) between theatrical releases and online streaming availability has shrunk dramatically. News of the World, for instance, spent just three weeks in theaters before its streaming release. And, of course, Warner Bros. has thrown in the towel, with plans to release its entire slate of films in 2021 both on streaming video and in theaters simultaneously (on HBO Max).
All in all, it remains a strange time for the movie industry. But Plugged In is still striving to keep you up to date on new things streaming on various services—even if they’re old films—that your family may have noticed as new options.
8 Responses
-Since subscribing to HBO Max last month, I’ve been able to enjoy a good selection of films both old and new. In the last month, I’ve watched:
-Die Hard
-Wonder Woman 1984
-Green Lantern (2011)
-Million Dollar Baby
-Ford v Ferrari
-Detective Pikachu
-Hacksaw Ridge
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
-Collateral Beauty
I’ve enjoyed most of these movies and loved a couple of them. As much as I miss movie theaters, I’m really glad that HBO Max is picking up the slack for new movie releases.
Looking forward to seeing Tom & Jerry, Godzilla v Kong and Zack Snyder’s Justice League in a few months.
– I only get regular cable, so no hbo max, Disney+, Amazon only Apple+ or anything else like that, but thank God I do get IFC and one Starz channel, and of course TCM, AMC, and others which are for the most part good with movies, plus my local library is back open again so I did take advantage of it right before Christmas and rented the absolutely stunning a beautiful day in the neighborhood, so I’m definitely not hurting too much with the theatres still being closed around here. Heck I even saw on TV a few weeks ago lon chaneys phantom of the opera movie which really surprised me at how good it was.
– Hey PluggedIn, I had an idea of new things you can watch that will have more benefits with parents! Anime. Tons of teens are loving them, however, some can be quite disturbing in every way. I know tons of friends who like anime that would be unthinkable to watch.
– I agree with Sam B. Kids are often exposed to anime and manga by junior high or even earlier. While there are a lot of worthwhile stories to be found in these mediums, they can also be content mine fields that can really scar someone if they are exposed to them to early. Typically, anime and manga is lumped together with no thought to age appropriateness. As someone who spends a lot of time in the manga section of the store, it is very easy for someone who is looking for a manga that is kid friendly like “The Legend of Zelda” to find something that is decidedly not kid friendly on the same shelf. Most Christian parents have no idea what is out there in the world of anime and won’t be able to help their kids navigate through it and protect them from seeing something they shouldn’t as a result. If Plugged In would review at least the most popular anime, it might help Christian parents guide their preteens through it more easily.
– That is true. The first anime I saw was when I was a teenager and it had something disturbing in it. It had been in the teen section of the public library so I had found it. I stayed away from all anime and manga until I was 23 and read a manga that a Christian friend of mine liked. I have since found a couple others that I like, but the only ones I’ve read that I would recommend to teens and older are Bakuman (a manga about teenagers who want to make manga), Silver Spoon (about a boy who leaves for an agricultural high-school to get away from his distant, critical dad), and Fullmetal Alchemist (a story about brothers that get caught up in a civil war that asks philosophical questions about what it means to be human).
I think, that if teens are interested in anime that there are a few that are worth watching as a family and talking about, but it is really hard to even tell what is probably family friendly as it is nearly all designed to look childish. Even things that are meant to be for kids in Japan, such as Naruto, have jokes about pin-up girls, etc.
– Silver Spoon and Fullmetal Alchemist are both on my top 20 list and are definitely two of the more family friendly ones that I’ve encountered. Interestingly enough, they are both by the same author, Hiromu Arakawa. She has two other series as well, The Heroic Legend of Arslan and Hero Tales; and while they are not perfect in terms of content, they are excellent stories and still fairly safe options for teens.
Other good options are The Legend of Zelda manga and Bungo Stray Dogs. The Legend of Zelda flesh out the Zelda video games in greater detail and are the only manga that I would recommend to elementary age kids. Bungo Stray Dogs is a about a detective agency in Yokohama and their cases and adventures. All of the characters in the story are named after famous authors and have supernatural abilities that are based on their works. Most are Japanese authors, but North American authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, L.M. Montgomery, and John Steinbeck and European authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky come into the story as well. Some of the authors involved had colorful lives and wrote stories that are not appropriate. These things come into Bungo Stray Dogs in the characters personalities and such, so I would not recommend it to young ones. But, it is a good story for older teenagers and adults and might inspire an interest in some literary classics as well.
– When I recommend Fullmetal Alchemist, I mean the manga and the Brotherhood anime, not the live-action movie.
– Most kids (like myself) find out about Anime in 6th or 5th grade. That includes super dark ones like “Demon Slayer” and “Tokyo Ghoul”.