**This article was taken from The WIRED World in 2016 --_our fourth annual trends report, a standalone magazine in which our network of expert writers and influencers predicts what's coming next. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online._
When film buffs of the future look back to the year 2015, they may well wonder what happened to originality. From Star Wars (the J.J. way!) to a Jurassic Park return of mammoth proportions, from Mad Max to Terminator, from Age of Ultron to Furious 7, Hollywood seems stuck in a time warp. It's like TV before HBO rewrote the rules -- formulaic and in need of fresh thinking.
Enter the disrupters. Amazon and Netflix have already put their stamp on television -- the online retailer earned a Golden Globe for its breakthrough comedy Transparent, and Netflix bagged a total of 34 nominations at the 2015 Emmy Awards for shows including House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and newcomer Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Reed Hastings's company is on track to become the number-one broadcaster in the US in 2016, according to online video advertising company Alphonso.
Now the focus of these streaming pioneers is moving to the big picture. In January 2015, Amazon announced it was setting up a new division dedicated to producing and acquiring about 12 movies per year. The films would each get a theatrical release before becoming available to subscribers to its streaming service, Amazon Prime, four to eight weeks later -- far quicker than the 39 to 52 weeks it usually takes for films to premiere on subscription video services.
Amazon said it hoped "this programme will also benefit film-makers, who too often struggle to mount fresh and daring stories that deserve an audience." The new original movies division of Amazon Studios gained instant clout by bringing in respected indie producer Ted Hope (American Splendor, The Brothers McMullen) to lead the original motion picture division. In June, it added fellow veteran Bob Berney to handle theatrical distribution and marketing. "It was like, lock and load, here we go," says Dana Harris, editor of entertainment news site Indiewire. "It's just a behemoth getting into this space. It was welcomed, especially when they hired Bob and Ted. They are veterans in the space and they're known for being wily and smart and for their creative instincts. And that's going to be paired with algorithms."
Indie film by algorithm may sound like a sign of the apocalypse, but the encouraging news is that the tech players have seen our viewing habits and are jumping at the chance to invest in more adventurous fare. Amazon's first film to hit theatres will be Spike Lee's Chiraq, a musical comedy set in Chicago which Hope claims "may be [Lee's] greatest -- and definitely his boldest -- yet." Jim Jarmusch and Terry Gilliam have reportedly both been signed up to produce films for the fledgling studio, which also won a bidding war for the Kevin Spacey drama Elvis & Nixon.
Netflix, meanwhile, bankrolled a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and paid a reported $12 million (£7.7m) for the rights to the Oscar-tipped war drama set in Africa, Beasts of No Nation, starring Idris Elba. However, Netflix's plan to release it simultaneously via its streaming service and in theatres raised the ire of major US cinema chains, which have promised a boycott.
Although it hasn't earned quite the attention of its US counterparts, it's worth mentioning that the UK indie cinema chain Curzon has been a pioneer of the so-called "day and date" model, releasing films through its digital home-cinema service at the same time they debut in theatres. "We're competing for people's time and that's going up against the gym, your kids, work -- so giving people access to what they want, when they want, how they want it, is what this is all about," explains Philip Mordecai, who heads up the service. He says Curzon remains committed to the bricks-and-mortar cinema experience, but online is proving to be a solid vehicle for indie films in the UK. "I think it will be parity or more within three years," he says.
But will online platforms help revive the indie sector, which has struggled since its 90s heyday? "I don't think it's going to be a panacea -- but frankly, whatever Amazon chooses to do will be educational, because they have so much data," Indiewire's Harris says. She believes that video on demand is going to be the future: "Film theatres are going to have a problem, because they're not the only game in town." "A test of this kind of system is whether they support a guy like Hal Hartley," says Geoff King, who teaches film at Brunel University London. "Hartley is an indie hero, but he's struggled to fund every film he's made recently. It would be a good test of this -- if they [will] fund an awkward, prickly Hal Hartley film, rather than just funding Crouching Tiger Part 2."
If that's a measure of success, then there's reason for optimism. Amazon's new film honcho Ted Hope got his break producing Hartley films. In his memoir Hope For Film he recounts a realisation after the low-budget The Unbelievable Truth was picked up by Miramax. "It was the first time I thought that maybe it was possible, that maybe I, and others like me -- people without connections or money -- could not only make movies for our living, but also get them seen. And maybe we could change the world a little bit by what we made."
And now he has a data-powered technology platform and significant budgets at his disposal. What happens next in the industry will definitely be worth watching.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
