The situation looks like a somewhat worn-out science fiction scenario. A formidable armada is heading for Earth as human beings, with their eyes fixed on the telescope, dither endlessly about the hostile or peaceful nature of the aliens. With a certain similarity, the cinema world has been watching the invasion of streaming platforms for several years now, scratching its head.
Netflix and Prime Video, the service from Amazon, have been well in place for some time, while at the end of the year, Apple and especially Disney, over-supplied with heavyweight licenses (Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar…), in turn launch from their solid American base. Disney + is announced in France for March 2020, with the gondola at the head The Mandalorian, his series from the Star Wars universe.
Game masters
If the intentions of these invaders are still controversial, there is no doubt that these behemoths have all the cards in hand, starting with their unrivaled financial power, to become masters of the game. In the short term, should blow other waves of assault: HBO Max, bringing together the programs of the famous cable channel, but also the films and series Warner, will launch in the spring in the United States. On this side of the Atlantic, Salto, a French platform resulting from the union of TF1, France Télévisions and M6, is also announced for 2020.
The key to this major upheaval, a flood of questions submerges the entire profession, including that, crucial, of the visibility of a film and its longevity in the unfathomable ocean of platform offerings. This end of the year 2019 saw two American filmmakers pull out of the game on Netflix: Martin Scorsese with his fresco The Irishman, whose duration (3 h 30) and the greed of the budget (160 million dollars) clearly frightened the conventional funding circuits, and Noah Baumbach, whose Marriage Story is undoubtedly the most successful film, have been nominated in the most prestigious categories at the Golden Globes, pending the Oscars.
Even more interesting, two revelations of the last Cannes Festival, made by young filmmakers, combine an outing in French theaters and an exploitation on platforms abroad, in the United States in particular. This is'Atlantic, by Mati Diop, Grand Jury Prize on the Croisette, whose exploitation rights have been purchased by Netflix in almost all of its territories, and Misérables by Ladj Ly, Jury Prize and main acquisition of Prime Video, which has greatly exceeded one million viewers since its release on November 20.
