Contributing editor LEILA LATIFhas something to say…
Ican feel it in my bones. In 2024, my annual New Year’s resolution to spend less time on social media will finally stick. And though moderation is harder than abstinence, I can’t bring myself to just delete the accounts and deprive myself of all those unvarnished industry revelations.
Recently, it was shocking to see beloved comedian Kristen Schaal begging her followers to help her burn a DVD of her Disney+ show The Mysterious Benedict Society, as she’d discovered it was about to be deleted and wanted ‘to show it to my daughter one day’. As 2023 drew to a close, Guillermo del Toro posted an inspiring call to arms about the Fahrenheit 451-level responsibility we all have to preserve cinema: ‘If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc. of a film or films you love, you are the custodian of those films for generations to come.’
Hollywood has had a rough few years amid pandemics, strikes and Samuel L. Jackson not realising we can see what he ‘likes’ on Twitter, but this year should have been a celebratory return to normalcy. Unfortunately, its creative forces are facing an existential threat. The Paramount+ film library lost more than half its titles over the past year, 2021’s Passing won Netflix awards but good luck being able to watch it anywhere in 2024, and Disney+’s Crater was scrubbed out of existence seven weeks postpremiere. Casts and crews now show up to work, aware their projects could meet the same fate as Batgirl and never see the light of day.
THIS MONTH Why 2024 is the year Hollywood needs to rebuild trust.
It’s not just studio executives who told press that they would ‘break’ the writers and allow things to drag on until striking members began ‘losing their houses’. Or Seth Rogen’s claims that the powers that be were sacrificing the livelihoods of thousands with ‘infighting and divergent priorities’. Or – as highlighted by screenwriter Ed Solomon – the fact that studios can employ creative accounting to make it seem like successful movies lost money, and stymie profit-sharing. It’s that cinema’s artistry can play second fiddle to tax-break opportunities.
We all understand that companies need profits to survive. But the future of movies should be in the hands of those who love them, and Hollywood was built by risk-takers wh
