Did streaming kill the cinema industry?

Where did this all start? Well, it’s been going for a long time. It’s no secret that streaming has boomed in the last few years, with everyone now having (or claiming to have) a Netflix account. The success of Netflix effectively eliminated the DVD industry, with DVD rental stores now being a thing of the past. So, considering that streaming has already killed off other media services, what is it doing to cinemas? Cinema attendance fell continually throughout the 2010s, so a decline has been ever-present for the last few years, but the COVID-19 pandemic created a massive hit to the industry. The fact that cinemas had to spend so much time closed meant that revenue was absolutely decimated for not only the cinema chains themselves, but also production companies that provided the movies.

In fact, it’s the production companies that started the current wave of problems and hot debates. This can all be traced to last April when the pandemic was truly taking hold. Universal Pictures announced that some of its movies would release directly to streaming sites, instead of being delayed until a later time to release conventionally in theatres. This would start with “Trolls: World Tour”, which released on the 10th of April, both in a small number of cinemas and directly to on-demand streaming. This has caused quite a stir and reaction from cinemas, in fact, AMC, the owners of the Odeon Cinema chain, declared that all Universal Pictures movies would not be shown in their theatres as long as Universal released directly to on-demand simultaneously with theatres.

So what’s to take from these corporate disputes?

Ideally, we try and take advantage of the situation. The thing is, this situation, for the most part, benefitted us during the lockdowns. Since production companies wanted to maximise profits in trying times, they tried to reach us in a different way, one that was more adapted to the situation. Streaming services have become vital to many people stuck working indoors as a way to while away the time. To say that the pricing of the vast array of streaming services springing up is controversial is an understatement, with many opting to go back to online piracy to obtain the movies and shows they want to watch. “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ was no exception, being last year’s most pirated series.

However, what about the cinema experience? It’s no secret that watching a movie at the cinema itself is different from just watching it on a TV or computer. In fact, it’s arguably more complete, with better effects from both a bigger screen and cinema-style surround sound enabling a more enthralling and vivid adventure. The biggest downside is the whole process of actually going to the cinema, not everyone has a cinema room in their home, so they have to get out and go there, which to be fair, isn’t the best of ideas during a pandemic. Then there are the prices. Yes, streaming services are pricy, but cinema tickets have been becoming steadily pricier. Then there’s the whole problem of actually having to go back home afterward, which hardly is as comfortable as just switching off your TV and curling up in bed.

It’s definitely hard to choose between the two. The comforts of streaming at home are amazing but the immersion of watching a film at the cinema is equally enticing. From our end, we’d recommend a mix of both, leave the proper blockbusters or the ones you’re excited about for the cinema, in order to truly enjoy and appreciate the movie. Whereas at the same time don’t be afraid to enjoy the comforts of home cinema, after all, home is where the heart is.

Check out 1-Up Club’s previous article here!

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President – The return of classics- Putting Cinema back in action

Since 2020 basically cancelled everything, a lot of releases planned for this year had to be moved to the next one. Daniel Craig’s last James Bond film is now scheduled for 2021, Space Jam 2 is also scheduled and even a sequel to the original Ghostbusters movies! All in all, a good year for the classics already.

Events Officer – Cobra Kai Season 3

Cobra Kai is a weird work. Imagine if you try to superimpose the adult life of a kid from a show into sort of the same setting, weird right? Well, as weird as it is, we love it. Cobra Kai is the spiritual successor to the original Karate Kid films, even featuring the same main actors all grown up trying to navigate their way through life. 2021 will see the release of Season 3, which will surely take this amazing story to great places.

Internal Secretary – Concerts

Social Distance is currently the name of the game, and quite rightly. Health has to take a priority in such a trying time, and so, mosh pits, which even before pandemics were quite a risky endeavour, have taken a long break. There have been cases this year where certain festivals and concerts managed to create either a drive-in environment or spaced out any available seating. While they were still concerts, the real vibe was lost. So, we’re hoping that once this all boils over, we can return to proper headbanging and moshing.

Media Officer – The return of Star Wars?

2020 ended with a bang, sort of. The release of The Mandalorian‘s second season was a great coping mechanism for many these past few weeks. The season has consistently provided great stories, interesting characters, beautiful visuals and overall an extremely enjoyable experience. This all begs one massive question, is Star Wars back?

This is a hell of a question to answer. Disney clearly thinks it is, of course they do, even after those disastrous sequels. A few weeks ago, just before the Mandalorian finale, they announced a huge amount of new media that will soon release, all hoping to ride on the great atmosphere that Mandalorian created. Well, we’re certainly hopeful, and we recently discussed this more in-depth in our new podcast called 1Up-cast which you can catch on Twitch or our YouTube channel.

Public Relations Officer – A heap of Anime and Manga

Our PRO is incessantly keen on anime (but in a good way). 2021 marks a good year for the genre with the fresh release for the Dr. Stone anime series. As well as series 2 of Promised Neverland. 2021 will also see the release of a new third-person shooter for the Ratchet & Clank franchise called Rift Apart. This should be an exciting edition to an already amazing series of games. Best of all, it’ll be available on the next-gen PS5, that is, if people will be able to buy PS5s in 2021…

Conclusion

All in all, we’re hopeful for 2021, we have to be, it’s a way by which we help ourselves to get on with it. We highly recommend trying to be hopeful for the future, as that way, each and every one of us help to make it truly better.

We will soon be doing another episode of 1Up-Cast based on the things we’re hyped about for 2021 where we’ll talk more in-depth about these and a lot more! Check out our Facebook page for information and updates! In the meantime, we wish you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year, from all of us at 1-Up Club!

The post Five Things That Might Make 2021 (a bit) Better | 1-Up Club appeared first on The Third Eye.

The current box office hit is “Bohemian Rhapsody”, an interpretation ofthe life of late music legend Freddie Mercury, and his journey with the rockband “Queen”. Till now, it has wowed fans worldwide, showing music-lovers the incredible story of this man’s adventures. However, it wasn’t a completely simple story for the late rock star’s biopic.

The most notable thing that initially could be said about “Bohemian Rhapsody” is that, at least initially, it was rated as “not terribly exciting” and “slavishly by-the-numbers”. In fact even by time of writing, “Metacritic” still rates it at a dull 45%. How can this be? Surely, the number-one box office hit right now would garner more respect.

Well, indeed it has, as there is a reason behind the high interest rates from the general public.

One has to remember, that in the film industry, critics are not the only voices. In the end, us viewers are the ones who give out our hard-earned dosh to see these films, so to a certain extent, what we say MATTERS. On “Rotten Tomatoes”, the viewers’ approval of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a whopping 94%. 94! For a movie that apparently is “not terribly exciting”. So what happens now? Are we the audience idiots who have no clue in film creation and art? Well, maybe, but it doesn’t end there.

In fact, it doesn’t really end at all.

If we had to find other examples of this weird non-correlation, we don’t even have to go back more than a month to find another two glaring examples, which arguably are even more striking than the case of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. I am of course speaking about “Venom” and “Johnny English Strikes Again”. If we start with the latter, which is the lesser of an example of contrast between the critics and us, we notice that critically, it gained a consensus of 34% on “Rotten Tomatoes”, while “Johnny English” managed to gain 66% audience approval. That’s almost double… So what happened here?

Well, from my point of view, I may argue that the film was naturally strong enough to battle the critics from before filming even started.

Why? Rowan Atkinson. One cannot argue against that having the genius behind “Mr Bean” as your main star is definitely a marketing superweapon. So maybe that’s it? Strong marketing? Could be, but if you market a turd painted gold, eventually, people start to notice that not all that glitters is gold. There’s also the fact that it’s a comedy, and people love to laugh, so that helps, and from personal experience, there are enough things to laugh at in “Johnny English Strikes Again”. So we can suffice that a mixture of good marketing and good laughs can be enough to battle the harsh critics.

Well what about “Venom”? Well, the contrast here reaches ludicrous proportions.

Again, observing “Rotten Tomatoes”, the ‘all-knowing’ critics rewarded this film with only 29%. The audience? Well, 87%. Yes, that is triple,three-times more than the critics. How? Just, how? Even I was lost for words when I first realised. How can this honestly be true? Are the audience happy-go-lucky film-club members who are just there for the action and the laughs?Or is there a conspiracy from the critics? Who knows, but analysing, we immediately realise that of course, it was a Marvel film, so again, it has a super-strong marketing campaign behind it, just like “Johnny English Strikes Again”.

What about the content?

Well, as an initial confession, I’ve never been terribly excited for “Venom” as a character, so I went into the film without much knowledge about him apart from what I saw in Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman 3”, a film which according to many, the less mentioned the better. However, I can confidently say, that I did not find it in any way boring, complicated or unintelligible. Sure, there were parts I’d rather prefer they didn’t make the final cut, but that can even be said for “Avengers: Infinity War”. So all in all, it deserved far more than a measly 29% in my eyes.

So what do we take from this? Well, one has to consider an important factor. The low ratings came from critics, people whose job it is to review these films.

They are entering the theatre with the sole purpose of lamenting the motion picture they are about to watch and comment and critique. We viewers on the other hand, enter the theatre with the sole purpose of enjoying a movie(at least most of the time). More often than not, especially if it’s a movie from a strong franchise, the viewers tend to gloss over facts that if the critics also glossed over, they’d more than likely lose their job. The critics are much harder to impress than us, and rightly so.

However, can this alone explain such a gap? The short answer is no.

There are other factors. As already said, films with strong franchises have, more probable than not, a very strong fanbase, and in most cases, they would support the work of the fandom theyadore (of course especially if we forget the case of “Star Wars: The LastJedi”). So in the case of “Johnny English” and “Venom”, the last point counts,and this would mean that viewers would be more than glad to gloss over anyfaults or mistakes.Soin the end, it’s complicated. We can’t be exactly sure that every case is thesame, or that there aren’t more reasons why fans love their movies more thanthe critics, especially in different cases.

What is sure though, that for the movie we started with, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, I strongly believe that most people, myself included, would gladly gloss over technical and artistic issues within the movie, to be able to enjoy and clap and stomp along to an experience that shows them the amazing life of a man who many times makes their bus rides or chores or exercise a little more sweeter with the touch of beautiful music.

The post Critics vs Audiences: Is the customer always right? appeared first on The Third Eye.

With Malta Comic Con just around the corner, you’ll probably start seeing a lot of cosplays cropping up on your feed. Before assuming a condescending stance and wondering why adults are playing dress-up, we’re here to tell you what cosplay is all about. To do this we asked 1-Up’s very own cosplay connoisseur, Emma, about her venture into cosplaying. 

The reason why I cosplay is complicated because; let’s be honest in my case there are more cons then pros. It breaks my bank account, creates extra stress, messes up my sleep schedule and makes it seem as if an earthquake happened in my room. However, if you had to ask me to give it up, I’d very easily tell you it’s not possible.

Cosplaying allows me to be a more confident and outgoing version of myself.

When I’m in cosplay the word shy doesn’t exist because I’m able to just meet new people. Also, the amount of joy I experience when someone approaches me to take a photo with me is immeasurable. When that happens, you feel as if the hard work you put in to it was all worth it because it was acknowledged.

I’m saying all this but I’m still new to the cosplay scene. So, one can imagine that I’m still learning with every single cosplay. Especially since before cosplay I had no real background in pattern making and sewing. Also, I really don’t help myself because I’m quite fussy about making everything from scratch practically (I’m not a masochist, I promise).

Who I cosplay is also important for me because I always want to cosplay a character that touched me.

I never just choose a cosplay simply because their outfit is stunning or they’re a popular character. I choose a character because I relate to them or I look up to them. For example, I cosplayed as “Prince Noctis” from “Final Fantasy 15” because of how much of an impact his story left on me (not going to say too much because spoilers). Another one was “Krul Tepes” from “Owari no Seraph” who even though she’s a little vampire she’s still a powerful queen.

Cosplaying is honestly something I wish to continue doing until I’m no longer able to move my fingers.

It’s given me friends who now I can’t really function without. It’s helped me be more confident with myself. Even though cosplay is hard work it’s all worth it because of the overwhelming amount of positive emotions you experience when you see it on you completed for the first time.

Written by Emma Portelli 

The post Cosplaying: the what and the why | 1-Up Club appeared first on The Third Eye.

Whether you’re a Comic Con expert or a first-timer, you’re bound to realise you’ve forgotten something by the time you finish reading.

Venue Change

Unless you want to trudge through traffic towards Valletta only to realize you’ve cursed your way to an empty conference centre – keep in mind that this year’s con is at MFCC not MCC! That said, be prepared for a bigger venue and more people to impress with your cosplaying skills. 

Got Your Tickets? 

To all the indecisive souls, that have been putting off ticket-purchase decisions ever since phase one of the tickets was launched – time’s almost up! You can try your luck in our competition and get 2 tickets for free or opt for the Superhero package to get extra goodies on top of a 2-day pass. 

The Budget

We hope you’ve started saving to make sure you get the best out of the Comic Con experience. Whilst you can always choose not to spend a penny aside from tickets – what’s Comic Con without a quality cosplay, and a ton of impulsive purchases of merch and memorabilia? 

Support the talent!

Besides the big businesses and the publishers; above all Malta Comic Con is a platform for creators big and small, local and foreign. So, take the chance to indulge in all the local talent, support some familiar faces and get to know some new ones! 

Get Cultured! 

Attending Comic Con and not knowing at least a couple hundred pop culture references is simply unheard of. Regardless of what other obligations you have, it is imperative that you binge-watch all the superhero films, tv series, anime, cult classics you can think of prior to the con. 

Cosplaying

Cosplay [ˈkɒspleɪ] noun Probably the most anxiety-inducing and laborious part of Comic Con and practically a nightmare that will keep you up several consecutive nights. But as soon as you start seeing your vision come alive and imagine yourself strutting down the stands, you’ll realise it’s all worth it.

Ikimashou!

“Let’s Go!” Although obviously Comic Con is not exclusively anime and manga, it would be good to brush up on your Japanese knowledge. Be it knowing the language, culture or customs – you’d definitely get the chance to impress fellow Japanese artists and enthusiasts! 

BONUS

Look out for 1-Up Club’s stand and get to know more to bring pop-culture to Uni and indulge in comic goodness throughout the year. Make the memories last – catch The Third Eye roaming the stands to get a pic in your best cosplay!

The post 7 Steps to Mastering Comic Con appeared first on The Third Eye.

By the end of the week The Third Eye and 1-Up Club will have you eager to attend, and confident in your capability to cruise through stands and show off your best cosplay. This coming week The Third Eye and 1-Up Club will be collaborating with Comic Con Malta to bring you all the information you need leading up to this year’s con. Stay tuned for what we have lined up!

The Malta Comic Con is a 2-day event which celebrates comic creators, comic books, books, movies, TV series, table top games, video games, role playing games, cosplaying and virtually anything that is related to the comic culture. During this jampacked weekend, various local artists will be joining the ranks with our foreign guests.

The MCC is entertaining and educational and on both days, there will be material specifically intended for children and material specifically intended for a mature audience. However, primarily focus is always given towards providing a platform for creators to meet their fans. This year MCC 2018 will be hosting various professional creators from all over the world.

Malta Comic Con

Once we convince you to attend, head on to The Third Eye Facebook page to get in the chance to WIN your way to Comic Con!

The post Get Pumped for Malta Comic Con ’18 appeared first on The Third Eye.