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Is Cats going to destroy the movie industry as we know it?

Scalenex
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Scalenex

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Okay, so most of the focus is on Rise on Skywalker. There is a little bit of people noting how big a flop is and a lot of obligatory jokes "Cats didn't land on it's feet!"

One of the many many flaws of the movie is that there were some scenes where the CGI fur was not applied correctly in the finished product. So the studio actually edited it last minute and sent the movie theaters new versions of the film.

In other words, just like video games get patches, this potentially set a precedent for live action movies getting "patched."

It has been noted that sent patches became possible and straightforward for video games that video game developers no longer are as fastidious about making sure their initial launch is perfect. Back when video games were on CDs if there was a problem the video game companies had to recall all the CDs and mail their customers new CDs. That's expensive, so it was not uncommon for video game producers to delay a product launch by several months to make sure their product is good. Now it's relatively cheap to put in patches because everything is digital, so there is more emphasis on meeting release dates and less emphasis on getting a perfect product at launch.

A lot of video game fans have decided to stop buying new releases. "I'll wait till the patches are done and the bugs are fixed." That's not a big deal on a video game companies bottom line. Steam, Game Stop or other distributors takes about the same cut for early or late buyers.

If movie patches become common and everyone says "I'm not watching it opening week, I'll wait for them to finish the patches." this will have a huge hit on movie producers. They get a much bigger piece of the ticket sales on opening week than later.

Just a thought. Fewer people are going to the movie theaters already. This is not going to help reverse current trends.
 
Scalenex said:
A lot of video game fans have decided to stop buying new releases. "I'll wait till the patches are done and the bugs are fixed." That's not a big deal on a video game companies bottom line. Steam, Game Stop or other distributors takes about the same cut for early or late buyers.

If movie patches become common and everyone says "I'm not watching it opening week, I'll wait for them to finish the patches." this will have a huge hit on movie producers. They get a much bigger piece of the ticket sales on opening week than later.

Just a thought. Fewer people are going to the movie theaters already. This is not going to help reverse current trends.
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"Cats" by itself is not going to destroy anything (if not itself and some of the people directly involved).

But hopefully in the future we'll have movies that will be released as final product, with no need to adjust things after the film hit the theatres.
 
Yeah I also don't think it will be a major change for the movie industry.
There isn't that much that you can quickly or easily patch, so in most cases the studios are probably aware that they cannot do that and will continue working as they always have.

Plus, I don't think they are interested in doing that whole after release patching thing. It is likely still more expensive than doing it right before release and the market is much more fragile as the video game market.
One badly received movie can cause several movies after it to have commercial disadvantages.

The way movie watching works makes it even more dangerous.
Compared to many games you pay a high amount of money for a very short performance, and it is one shot. You cannot start a movie, watch it to a certain point, then wait for it to be patched and watch the rest (or start again). People do that with video games.

Also: as you said, the product life cycle looks different. Video games don't rely as much on sales directly after release. They typically sell throughout a space of several months (although there are a few that do the movie thing and sell many units in their first week).

So yeah, I see what you mean, but I don't think that the impact will be that great. The risk is just too high.
(in an industry that is kind of in a crisis already).
 
Killer Angel said:
But hopefully in the future we'll have movies that will be released as final product, with no need to adjust things after the film hit the theatres
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This is wild-eyed optimism. In a not nearly distant enough future it will be possible (not necessarily good) to replace entire actors in every scene of a film. Don’t like Corden in Cats? Digitally replace him with Digital David Bowie or whoever you’d like. There will be a menu of choices... (again not saying this like it’s a good thing).
 
To be honest, this doesn’t sound like a major thing - seems like more of a “graphics patch” then anything that actually intrinsically changes the story anyhow, so as much as anything I think it might end up making those first ‘uncorrected’ viewings more desirable for the sheer novelty and comedy value of seeing it in its unfinished state. As @NIGHTBRINGER said as well, I doubt anyone will be taking notes on anything other than what not to do with this film. And even if this does become a thing, I doubt it will have a major impact on the film world anyway. Either they’ll be so minor that the impact won’t really be noticeable, in which case the change probably isn’t worth making until DVD release anyway, or it will be more major and people will start doing what you say. However, if that happens, then as you say, the movie producers (in theory the ones who make the decision on films having the patches) will suffer, whilst the entire point of the patch (allowing them to focus more on meeting deadlines and hitting release dates and such) will also suffer because people won’t be going to those initial release dates anyway precisely because of the patches. Introducing meaningful patches would have no positive impact on the movies at all, so they would likely be done away with, and non-meaningful patches would have to be so minor that they either won’t be noticed or won’t be bothered with, and at that point it becomes a question of acceptable quality that films face already and has nothing to do with patches. I really don’t think this is going to have anywhere near the impact of, say, the introduction of major streaming services a few years back.
 
ravagekitteh said:
To be honest, this doesn’t sound like a major thing - seems like more of a “graphics patch” then anything that actually intrinsically changes the story anyhow, so as much as anything I think it might end up making those first ‘uncorrected’ viewings more desirable for the sheer novelty and comedy value of seeing it in its unfinished state. As @NIGHTBRINGER said as well, I doubt anyone will be taking notes on anything other than what not to do with this film. And even if this does become a thing, I doubt it will have a major impact on the film world anyway. Either they’ll be so minor that the impact won’t really be noticeable, in which case the change probably isn’t worth making until DVD release anyway, or it will be more major and people will start doing what you say. However, if that happens, then as you say, the movie producers (in theory the ones who make the decision on films having the patches) will suffer, whilst the entire point of the patch (allowing them to focus more on meeting deadlines and hitting release dates and such) will also suffer because people won’t be going to those initial release dates anyway precisely because of the patches. Introducing meaningful patches would have no positive impact on the movies at all, so they would likely be done away with, and non-meaningful patches would have to be so minor that they either won’t be noticed or won’t be bothered with, and at that point it becomes a question of acceptable quality that films face already and has nothing to do with patches. I really don’t think this is going to have anywhere near the impact of, say, the introduction of major streaming services a few years back.
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I hope you are right. History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

The first person to come up with an innovation is rarely the first person to mass produce it or successfully monetize it. More than a few brilliant inventors died in poverty. The fact that Cats is a financial disaster doesn't mean someone else won't use their innovation.

Hollywood, and business in general has a tendency to focus on short term gains over long term financial health.

I suppose streaming services are a far greater threat to movie theaters than this, but two threats are worse than one. When I am fending off a viscous pit bull with a chair, I do not want a feisty chihuahua pulling on my pant leg.
 
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