GoKawiilA group of young assistants from WME — the talent agency representing Martin Scorsese and Ben Affleck — were debating their career choices between rounds of bourbon and line dancing on a recent evening at the Desert 5 Spot bar in Hollywood.
“I got into this business because I love movies, but everyone is really worried that the movie business won’t exist anymore,” slurred one of the twentysomethings, who asked not to be identified sharing their thoughts freely.
For almost as long as it’s been around, the film industry has been pronounced dead before its time. The advent of television in the 1950s, the sale of studios to conglomerates in the 1960s, and the rise of video cassettes in the 1980s and streaming in the 2010s were all thought to be the nail in the coffin.
Now, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences prepares to hand out its highest awards to films and filmmakers on Sunday, the industry is once again awash in gloom. Morale has been battered by tens of thousands of layoffs, the exodus of production from California to lower-cost territories, the waning cultural relevance of cinema versus social media, declining attendance at theater chains and fears that artificial intelligence will displace traditional moviemaking.
For employees of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., which has Sinners and One Battle After Another up for best picture, this year’s Oscar race has been overshadowed by rival Paramount Skydance Corp.’s $110 billion deal to buy the company. It’s the third time Warner Bros. has been sold in less than a decade.
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