This article originally appeared on Complex.com
COVID-19 has been hard on all industries, including Hollywood. The production delays on films and TV shows that we saw early on during the pandemic, not to mention the shuffling of release dates, have exposed cracks in Hollywood’s foundation and shown just how much the rise of streaming services has impacted the traditional theater experience.
Among the hardest-hit companies has been Disney. Many of the company’s lines of business—amusement parks, cruises, resorts, and entertainment—have all been radically disrupted by the pandemic, sending their stock into a downward spiral for the first half of the year. As the future open date for movie theater chains continues to tumble down the calendar due to increased corona cases, studios like Disney are looking to unconventional solutions to release their movies. However, news from a recent earnings call could signify a new paradigm shift for how Disney plans to release their films for the foreseeable future.