The sports world isn’t the only entertainment landscape that has been significantly altered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The movie industry has been turned on its head due to theater closures, with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” being the only major release in theaters since the pandemic began in early 2020. With many cinemas still closed or limited in terms of capacity, many scheduled releases have either delayed their premieres significantly or pivoted to streaming services.
“Boss Level,” a sci-fi action film starring Frank Grillo, is part of the latter camp, and Grillo joined John Jastremski on Wednesday night to talk about the upcoming March 5 release on Hulu, and the uncertain outlook of the film industry.
“It’s a game-changer in a way that movies are being distributed,” Grillo said. “This movie was going to go into theatres, and thankfully Hulu came in and partnered up and took it over, so that’s why March 5 is a big day for us, because Hulu is releasing it all over North America.”
Come March 5, “Boss Level” will join other films like “Wonder Woman 1984” that have elected to release primarily through a streaming service. HBO Max is loaded with streaming releases scheduled to premiere in the coming year, though they hope to also have successful theatrical releases alongside of the streaming option.
“Godzilla vs. King Kong” and “The Sopranos” prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” are among the big draws that will be available to stream this year.
Grillo, who is also known for his role as Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has seen the movie industry significantly impacted in other areas as well, specifically how movies are actually made.
“We just finished a movie in Atlanta,” Grillo said. “It took us three months because of Covid. It’s with me, Gerard Butler, and Joe Carnahan, the same director [as “Boss Level”]. It really slowed things down a lot. We almost had to stop a couple times. So until there’s some real mass way to distribute the vaccine, I don’t know when things get back to the way it was.”
Some movies appear set to wait for whenever theaters are able to fully open again, with anticipated releases like “Black Widow” waiting until fall to premiere, but Grillo wonders if the coronavirus pandemic has permanently changed how we take in movies, and if a return to normal will even be in the cards once COVID-19 finally subsides.
“What’s happened is we’ve changed the behavior of people,” Grillo said. “We’re now comfortable as people sitting at home. People have beefed up their entertainment systems. People who don’t have a lot of money have great TVs now because they spend so much time at home now. It’s a great way to kind of have family time too. I don’t know where the movie industry goes now as far as theatrical releases are concerned.”
Listen to Grillo’s entire interview with JJ below!
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