Courtesy of DreamWorks Animation; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate; Courtesy of Nicole Dove/MGM; Courtesy of Amazon Studios;Courtesy of Apple TV+
As COVID-19 shuttered productions, Paramount had no movies shooting, but Disney had a half-dozen. Apple and Amazon went on buying sprees, while MGM bid on big-ticket packages and Sony fast-tracked movies with minimal casts.
This year, studios threw out their playbooks. Leadership structures were overhauled, eight-figure deals came out of virtual film festivals, executives navigated COVID-19 production halts, and the crumbling theatrical window was shattered.
One studio's delayed theatrical title became another studio's new original streaming film. While some focused on remounting pipeline productions, others fast-tracked new productions that allowed for contained stories with minimal casts. Big-ticket packages were purchased with the hope of a future return to theaters and franchise films rejiggered to allow for back-to-back production of installments.