There does remain one distribution channel for truly home made, DIY films however, and even if it's a non-traditional one, it seems to be giving the cinemas and home video release a run for their money. Netflix and, in the UK, the recently-rebranded LoveFilm almost single handedly killed the video rental store, with Blockbuster finally disappearing from streets everywhere as of late. It made sense that, rather than leaving the house and perusing a meagre selection of new and old titles, viewers would prefer a near-infinite selection of films to choose from, and to have them delivered straight to their door. Even more groundbreaking - and for those in LA, earth-shaking - than that has been the arrival and widespread adoption of streaming home media. People are not only not going to the cinema, but they're not adding to the movie industry's second revenue stream of buying films on DVD or Blu-Ray either. Why would they do either, when they've got an enormous selection of TV shows and movies to choose from, and they only need to pay a few dollars a month? The likes of Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are going to be disruptive to Hollywood in a number of ways. Not only pinching their audience, but also giving an outlet to independent films which might not have found a distributor through traditional means, and - most formidably of all - their own forays into original content. Both services have produced award-winning TV shows, documentaries, stand up films and more, many of which match the budgets and surpass the quality of the work being done by the major studios, all of which are hamstrung by...well, the nine other points of this list. So we'll end on a more optimistic note than we started, because perhaps the end times for cinemas and film studios isn't necessarily being signalled by all of these developments. It's simply a chance for them to be reborn, for the bloated system to be emptied and start afresh, for new developments in technology and the way we consume media to eventually lead of bigger, better popcorn fare. Or at the very least, put an end to the Transformers franchise.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
