What to expect next year in the Film Industry

2011 is nearly over, and I have to say it’s been a fun ride of sheer entertainment from George Clooney’s non-stop film festival appearances to Lars Von Trier’s ‘Nazi’ past. What can we expect to see in the film industry next year, and what will be the next big trends? Check out my list of predictions for next year below.

Film Industry Predictions 2012

Kickstarter

Building on the success of a $100 million dontion empire, Kickstarter is well placed to become an industry leader in fundraising, and it’s not impossible to envisage medium range budget movies making a comeback if the platform becomes a credible alternative to traditional private investment. Watch Kickstarter’s growth in 2012 as it will have a big influence on the way indie films get made, with a transition to higher budget movies possible.

Short films

Short film content will continue to grow as Youtube dominates the video market in 2012. With premium channels, a revamped website and high quality content being pushed to our computer screens, Youtube could become the next online TV station of our generation (If not already). Celebrities have already signed up with down payments to produce episodes for Youtube and short film content will gain prominence. Expect to see more Hollywood stars directing of starring in short viral videos.

Mobile Apps

Mobiles are converting web users to on-the-move content consumers. Tying back to short films, consumer demand for mobile content will boom in 2012 as smartphones dominate sales, and the film industry looks to portables for digital sales.

Collapse of DVD/ Blu Ray sales

Sites like Netflix, although facing a bumpy ride this year will recover their lost DVD subscribers as cloud services dominate demand in 2012. Streaming movies on these services, including Hulu and Youtube will pick up, including digital sales across all platforms. Can we expect to see films online at the same time as cinema releases? Quite possibly.

Hollywood actors using the web

Notorious ‘anti-technology’ actors like George Clooney or Brad Pitt will be forced to speed up their web presence as studios ‘require’ them to do so by the end of next year. Sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Facebook will play a bigger role in movie promotions. Stars will be ever more present online, in video blogs and connect far more with fans. Those outside the web spectrum can expect a significant downgrade in star appeal because blogs and agencies get their news sources from social media first.

film industry network members