The US may velocity up sluggish Covid vaccinations by giving two half doses of Moderna Shot

A FDNY EMS Fire Department employee receives a COVID-19 Moderna vaccine amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States. December 23, 2020.

Carlo Allegri | Reuters

The head of the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccination program said Sunday that health officials are considering the idea of ​​giving a large group of Americans half-volume doses of a vaccine to speed up adoption.

Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that one way to speed up immunization against Covid-19 is to give some people two half-volume doses of the Moderna vaccine.

“We know that for the Moderna vaccine, half the dose is given to people between the ages of 18 and 55 – two doses, half the dose, which is exactly the goal of getting twice the number of people using the doses immunize that we have – we know it induces an identical immune response to the 100 microgram dose, “Slaoui said.

“And that’s why we’re in talks with Moderna and the FDA – of course it will ultimately be a decision of the FDA – to accelerate the injection of half the volume,” he added.

Moncef Slaoui, a former executive director of GlaxoSmithKline, speaks to President Donald J. Trump during a vaccine development event in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday, May 15, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images

The comments came in response to why the US is not adopting the strategy of giving all available vaccine doses now, even though the approved vaccines require a second round of firing to be fully effective. The UK has taken this approach in the hope that continued production will enable the second recordings in the future.

Slaoui said it was a mistake to make a decision that was not supported by the experimental data. White House Health Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, commented similarly on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, said the strategy “goes against science” and would not solve the problems with the US launch.

“The idea of ​​expanding it so you can get more people is when you don’t have enough vaccine and a lot of people are waiting in line to wait for a vaccine,” Fauci said. “That’s not our problem now. We have a vaccine. We have to get it into people’s arms. It really is the right solution to the wrong problem.”

The FDA and Moderna did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The dispute over different vaccination approaches stems from the fact that the introduction of the vaccine in the US did not achieve the goals of Operation Warp Speed ​​and the pandemic continues to devastate the country. President Donald Trump has blamed states for the slow adoption as the number of vaccinations given lags behind the number of vaccines sent and delivered.

Health officials wanted to inject a vaccine to 20 million Americans by the end of the year. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 4.2 million people had received gunfire by January 2.

The last 7-day average for new cases of the coronavirus in the US is 205,093, according to John Hopkins University. That number has grown by 8% week-to-week, although tests and reports tended to be inconsistent during the holiday season. According to Johns Hopkins, the nation has an average of more than 2,600 deaths a day attributed to the virus.

Ceaser Emanuel’s Black Ink Crew daughter beats him up on Instagram, claiming he hit her

Ceaser Black Ink Crew

Roommate, it seems Black Ink Crew’s ceaser Emanuel has got his year off to a rocky start as it’s only two days after 2021 and his daughter Cheyenne is calling him on the gram. On some Instagram messages, she referred to Ceaser as her “sperm donor” and said she would never forgive him for his actions.

If you’re a fan of the show, you’ve seen Cheyenne on a few episodes. Although Ceaser talked about having a better relationship with his daughter on the show, it seems like things are not going as planned. During her Instagram Live, Cheyenne claimed that Ceaser “put his hands and feet on [her]”And that he too” stamped [her] She also revealed that cops had been called to the scene. See what Ceaser’s daughter had to say below:

Although Cheyenne didn’t specifically say what had happened between her and her father, Ceaser’s friend Suzette went to her Instagram to make her own claims. In Suzette’s Instagram story, she claims Cheyenne didn’t want to wash the dishes and what she may have received was an old-fashioned bum. She continued, “You want $ 600 wigs but you don’t want to do the dishes? Children have no respect these days … do not respect their mother or father and want the world. Before you talked back, you got a ** whip. This generation is different. “

While some roommates agreed with Suzette, many others felt that she was talking out of pocket about a child who was not hers. Ceaser has yet to respond to his daughter’s claims.

If you are looking for tea sent direct to Your inbox? Look no further and call 917-722-8057 or Click here to take part! You’ll be glad you made roommates!

Georgia voter turnout tops three million as management of the U.S. Senate is pending

Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock (R) and Jon Ossoff (L) clash their elbows during a “It’s Time to Vote” drive-in rally on December 28, 2020 in Stonecrest, Georgia.

Jessica McGowan | Getty Images

More than 3 million residents of Georgia have already cast their votes in the two runoff elections on January 5th. This is a historic turnout in a competition to determine whether Democrats or Republicans will control the US Senate this year.

Tuesday’s races will be between Republican Senator David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff, and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock.

If Perdue and Loeffler won their races, Republicans would have a Senate majority of 52 seats, which would allow them to block part of President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda.

The Democratic caucus would have 50 seats if Ossoff and Warnock won. And a groundbreaking vote by Vice President-Elect Harris would give Democrats control of the Senate after six years of GOP majority.

Democrats currently control the House of Representatives and will continue to control the Chamber through 2021. Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate.

President Donald Trump, who has unfounded claims that Georgia’s two Senate races are invalid, will hold a rally for Perdue and Loeffler on Monday.

Biden is expected to travel to Atlanta on Monday while Harris is due to visit Savannah on Sunday to support Ossoff and Warnock. The Democratic candidates have broken records for fundraising during their campaigns, raising more than $ 100 million each in recent months, largely due to small donations.

Ivanka Trump and Senators Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) wave to the crowd at a campaign rally on December 21, 2020 in Milton, Georgia.

Elijah Nouvelage | Getty Images

Strong allies of the president, Perdue and Loeffler, backed $ 600 stimulus payments as part of the broader bailout package, and attacked Democratic opponents for arguing that those payments were insufficient. However, they reversed course and broke with many Senate Republicans in support of Trump’s calls for $ 2,000 stimulus checks after Congress passed the bill.

Ossoff and Warnock have been working closely with Biden’s plan to give Americans more coronavirus relief and direct controls. They have condemned their opponents for dealing with the pandemic, insisting that GOP senators haven’t done enough to push for a vote on higher stimulus controls in the Senate.

The 3,002,100 early vote accounts for 38.8% of all registered voters in Georgia. This is based on data collected by the University of Florida US election project. The early vote surpasses the previous voter turnout record for a runoff of around 2.1 million ballots cast in the 2008 Senate runoff between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.

Data shows Democrats have an advantage when it comes to voter turnout in Georgia. The early voting ended on Thursday. Republicans generally see a higher turnout on election day. Voter turnout has lagged in rural, Conservative Congressional districts in Georgia, particularly in the northwestern part of the state where Trump will campaign on Monday, according to local reports.

Republicans have accelerated their voting efforts. Days before the runoff election, Perdue began quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. Perdue told Fox News on Saturday that he would not be attending the president’s rally on Monday because of his quarantine.

Dr. Jill Biden brings new views to training and work to the White Home

“The working conditions of the teachers are the learning conditions of the students.”

This phrase has accompanied many reports of improving and reforming public education in America and, of course, political statements from educational associations that support the work of teachers.

To a large extent, the sentence is not only pithy, but also has the ring of truth. It seems like common sense. When classrooms are not equipped with the textbooks, computers, and other technology and tools necessary to educate American youth so they are ready to do the work our society needs to meet the needs of the 21st century then how can teachers best help? Do students learn how they must?

And for classrooms to be optimal learning environments, our public schools must of course also be able to recruit and retain the best and brightest among us, right? Who do you want to teach your children? In order to achieve this goal, it must be ensured that the profession earns a respectable salary and that working conditions are supportive and empowering.

This sentence is an effective reminder that issues of education and justice and workers’ rights go hand in hand.

After four years of Trump’s presidency and the shameful and harmful antics of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, it will be fresh air when Dr. Jill Biden escorted President-elect Joe Biden to the White House, which promises reasonable seriousness about education policies, including respect for labor rights.

Dr. Biden acknowledges the interconnectedness of these topics, as illustrated in her tweet last November:

In Washington DC, it seems to be a new idea to link the right to organization and the salaries and working conditions of teachers to the struggle for quality public education, since this kind of thinking was not only absent in Trump’s administration, but all around. even brutally dismissed in favor of a brutal attack on public education, the rights of teachers and the civil rights of students.

The sounds of Trump’s silence about public education and teacher working conditions were so audible that teachers from West Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Colorado effectively carried out mass strikes in 2018 unlike any our nation had witnessed since the 1930s. Trump did not say a word to acknowledge or in any way address both the backward teacher salaries in these states and the extremely low funding for public education, which was also an important, if not primary, stimulus for mass teacher action. The silence continued in early 2019 when massive teacher strikes took place in Denver, Los Angeles, and Oakland for similar reasons.

Trump’s proposed budget for 2020 cut education funding by $ 7 billion, and his proposed budget for 2021 followed with a cut of $ 6 billion. DeVos has repeatedly endorsed policies that allow funds that normally go to American public schools to be redirected to private schools.

And she has repeatedly fought against the protection of civil rights or the enforcement of protections for transgender and students with disabilities, as well as for DACA recipients.

Perhaps exemplary of DeVos’ long and damaging four-year tenure as Minister of Education is her participation in Trump’s ongoing assault on the rights of federal employees and their unions. In 2018, Erica Green reported for the New York Times that federal employment agencies reported to DeVos and her division that they were likely to have violated federal law by restricting workers’ protection and their right to access union representation.

David Borer, the union’s lawyer, said at the time: “It’s a real speech on the wheel in the government’s attempt to destroy the federal sector unions. This was the first volley in a widening attack on federal unions, the rights of federal workers. “

DeVos’ attack on union rights reflected the myriad of anti-union statements that upset Trump’s budget at the time.

It must be noted that this attack on trade unions, on workers who have the right to be represented in the world and to organize, is of course in line with the efforts to undermine the democracy that we are increasingly pursuing today Trump administration and the Republican Party as a whole. The attack on unions must be understood as an attempt to deprive workers of their say in their workplace, where they spend much of their time. To claim that we have democracy-free zones, in this case the nation’s jobs, in a democracy is just a violent contradiction, a bill of materials that Republicans have long been selling to Americans at high prices.

But more to the point – excuse my digression – is that in education, anti-labor policy is actually anti-student, anti-education. In this regard, DeVos is the secretary for mis-education.

On the way to the door, she urged the very same coworkers she attacked to oppose changes to their policies, telling the agency staff:

“As many of you know, almost everything in this city, when it comes to education, is focused on schools – not students. Let me leave you with this final plea: resist. Be the resistance to a familiar force that distracts you from doing what’s right for the students. “

And here we see what either DeVos’ injustice or stupidity is – or perhaps the unfortunate combination of the two. Students are taught by teachers in schools. We need to give schools the right tools to meet student needs and enable them to excel. It also means recruiting, retaining and supporting qualified teachers so that they have autonomy and can use their expertise and creativity in the service of students. It means having counselors and nurses on staff who look after children.

What do you think it means to focus on the students if it is not ensured that they have quality teachers, optimal teaching and learning environments, and attention to their mental and general health?

Ironically, DeVos’ tenure can best be characterized as a constant attack on students. In January last year, the American Federation of Teachers sued DeVos for deregulating nonprofit educational institutions that defrauded students and American taxpayers out of billions of dollars.

Dr. Biden’s tweet is a strong reminder that labor rights, quality public education and democracy go hand in hand.

Having such a voice in the White House promises to counter the foul-smelling air of Trump’s swamp that has contaminated our fragile democracy for the past four years.

s

d

d

d

d

dd

d

d

d

d

d

wd

+

Donald Trump hardly had a word of support

The sounds of Trump cardThe silence about public education is so audible that it is deafening. In fact, as of 2018 teachers out West Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Colorado effectively involved in mass strikes the likes of which our nation has not seen since the 1930s, Trump card did not say a word to recognize the two backward teachers’ salaries or to address them in any way conditions or the extremely limited funds for public education, which also provided an important impetus for the mass actions of teachers. This year there were already massive strikes by teachers in Denver, The angeland Oakland for similar reasons.

Jill Biden

tim profile

Tim Libretti is a professor of American literature and culture at a state university in Chicago. A longtime progressive voice, he has published numerous academic and journalistic articles on culture, class, race, gender, and politics, for which he has received awards from the Working Class Studies Association, the International Labor Communications Association, and the National Federation of Press Women and the Illinois Woman’s Press Association.

How Child Raddix made Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden’s goals come true

With Madden, however, she was confident that she had found more than just a variation on a theme. He was the one helping her turn away from acting and guiding her through what Paltrow described as a painful journey of self-discovery in an August 2020 episode of In Goop Health: The Sessions. “I broke that mirror about a thousand times when he introduced it to me. I said, ‘I hate you … don’t show me this’ and he said, ‘Look, bitch. Look’.” she shared. “Thank god for him.”

When she told Cohen that “no one compares,” she was sure of it. “Everything else like washing and slipping,” she continued. “You realize like, ‘Oh, right, this is the real thing, this is real love, and this is what commitment and dedication is. This is the person you build your life with.'”

And suddenly, just like getting married, it made sense to start a family. “Cameron is so much calmer, more stable and happier,” a source told People last January. “It was natural to want a baby.”

Larry King is claimed to have been hospitalized with COVID-19

Legendary talk show host Larry King was reportedly hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. According to ABC News, a source close to King’s family confirmed the news.

The source said, “Larry has battled so many health problems in the past few years and he fights that problem hard too, he’s a champion.” King is currently hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

King has been found to have suffered from medical problems in the past. As early as 1987 he suffered from a heart attack. He announced back in 2017 that he was being treated for lung cancer. In 2019 he had an angioplasty and also suffered a stroke.

Unfortunately, last year he lost two of his five children within a month. His son Andy died of a heart attack in July and his daughter Chaia died of lung cancer in August.

King hosted CNN’s Larry King Live for 25 years, interviewing some of the biggest names in a variety of industries. On Saturday, the point of sale reported that he has been in the hospital with COVID for more than a week and his children have not been able to visit him due to the hospital protocol.

Legendary talk show host and former CNN interviewer Larry King has Covid-19 and has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for more than a week, according to a close family source: //t.co/B6TEaaFLBY

– CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 2, 2021

No further information about his condition was disclosed. We will keep you updated.

We hold Larry King high in prayer during this time.

Would you like updates directly in your text inbox? Hit us at 917-722-8057 or Click here to take part!

TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @ Jade_Ashley94

11 Republican Senators urge Biden Victory certification to be postponed

Eleven GOP senators and elected senators will seek to delay confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump in the electoral college during a formal joint session of Congress on Wednesday, they said in a statement.

The Senators, led by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cited allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election for which they presented no evidence and which have been repeatedly rejected by courts across the country.

The Justice Department said it found no evidence of widespread fraud in the elections.

Efforts to reverse the latest of dozen Republican attempts to undo Trump’s loss are unlikely to change the electoral college’s record, which Biden won between 306 and 232. Biden is expected to be inaugurated on January 20th.

In their statement, the senators said they would object to the certification of voters from “controversial states” unless Congress sets up a commission to review those states’ elections. The commission would conduct a “10-day emergency audit,” they wrote.

“Once completed, individual states would evaluate the results of the commission and, if necessary, could convene a special legislative session to confirm a change in their vote,” the senators said in the statement.

Mike Gwin, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement, “This stunt will not change the fact that President-elect Biden will be sworn in on Jan. 20, and these unsubstantiated claims have already been examined and rejected by Trump’s own attorney general , Dozens of courts and election officials from both parties. “

Marc Elias, a Democratic election attorney who has overseen the Biden campaign’s response to many of the lawsuits against the 2020 election, wrote in a post on Twitter that there is “no way” that the GOP efforts will “change the election result.” .

The Senators who signed the declaration are Cruz, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., James Lankford, R-Okla., Steve Daines, R-Mont., John Kennedy, R-La., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn . and Mike Braun, R-Ind.

The elected Senators who signed it are Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. The elected senators will officially take office on Sunday.

Wednesday’s joint congressional session, usually a formality, takes place when lawmakers are required to officially count the electoral college votes given to each presidential candidate and announce the winner.

Vice President Mike Pence will chair the session as President of the Senate. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, said the vice president “shares concerns of millions of Americans about electoral fraud and irregularities in recent elections.”

If at least one senator and one member of the House of Representatives object to the results of a state, the joint session is suspended and the House and Senate meet separately for a maximum of two hours to consider the objection. A majority of both houses of Congress must approve the objection and reject the votes of the electoral college.

“The Vice President applauds the efforts by members of the House and Senate to use the authority required by law to raise objections and present evidence to Congress and the American people on January 6,” Short wrote in a statement on Saturday.

While the Republicans control the 100-member Senate, the Democrats hold a majority in the House of Representatives, making it virtually impossible for an objection to have a realistic chance of success.

In their statement, the senators acknowledge that their plan has little chance of success and that they “expect most, if not all, Democrats and perhaps more than a few Republicans” to vote against them.

In a post on Twitter, the campaign wrote “THANK YOU!” and listed the names of all eleven current and incoming Senators, as well as Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who previously said he would object to electoral college certification.

“It is encouraging to see so many patriots emerge calling for an investigation into the rampant electoral fraud and irregularities we saw on November 3rd,” Jenna Ellis, senior legal advisor for the campaign, said in a statement.

Efforts to reverse Biden’s victory have drawn fire from the Democrats and an increasing number of Republicans. In December, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Urged his party not to object to the results of the electoral college.

“The electoral college has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said on December 15, after the electoral college officially confirmed Biden’s victory and weeks after NBC News and other major media outlets announced the outcome of the race.

John Thune, RS.D., has repeatedly said that Trump’s efforts to ditch the results are likely to go down like a “shot dog”.

Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the 2012 GOP presidential candidate, said Hawley’s move was “disappointing and destructive”.

Following Saturday’s announcement, Senator Pat Toomey, R-Penn. Said that Hawley and Cruz “are undermining the right of the people to choose their own leaders”.

“The senators justify their intention by saying that there have been many allegations of fraud. But allegations of fraud from a losing campaign cannot justify overturning an election,” Toomey said. “They do not acknowledge that these allegations were heard in courtrooms across America and not supported by evidence.”

Toomey added that he voted for Trump and approved him for re-election. “But on Wednesday I intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing these efforts to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others,” he said.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement earlier in the day that she would vote to count the electoral college’s votes.

“I took an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution, and I will do it on January 6 – just as I want to do every day as I serve the people of Alaska,” Murkowski said.

“The courts and state lawmakers have all done their duty to hear legal allegations and have found nothing to justify reversing the results,” she added. “I urge my colleagues from both parties to acknowledge this and, together with me, maintain confidence in the electoral college and our elections so that we can ensure that we continue to have the confidence of the American people.”

Subscribe to CNBC Pro for the live TV stream, deep insights and analysis of how to invest during the next president’s term.

Zooey Deschanel raves about “2020 MVP” good friend Jonathan Scott

Zooey Deschanel thanks a person who got it through to 2020: your friend, the star of the Property Brothers Jonathan Scott.

On Jan. 2, the 500 Days of Summer star shared a photo of her and her honey on Instagram, along with a cute caption.

“My 2020 MVP was the guy who always made me happy despite having a strange and uncertain year,” she raved. “Hope for 2021 is full of silver lining for everyone.”

Zooey credit her father Caleb Deschanel, a director and cameraman who recently shot the 2019 version of The Lion King.

The actress surprised fans when she got off with the HGTV star in September 2019. Just two months later, Jonathan and Zooey made their red carpet debut at the Critics’ Choice Awards, and then went on vacation together.

They were just as inseparable in 2020 and didn’t shy away from sharing in the press how much they mean to one another. Months before Zooey told Jonathan that Jonathan helped her get through a rough year – including managing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – the reality TV personality also raved about the actress.

China says it would reply to telecommunications giants being delisted

Flags of the United States and China are displayed on the booth of the American International Chamber of Commerce (AICC) during the International Trade Fair for Services in Beijing, China on May 28, 2019.

Jason Lee | Reuters

China on Saturday promised to respond to the New York Stock Exchange’s delisting of three telecommunications giants under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in November.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that China “will take the necessary measures to vigorously protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” according to the state-run Global Times.

The NYSE announced Thursday that it had acquired China Telecom Corp. Limited, China Mobile Limited and China Unicom Hong Kong Limited will delist. Trump signed an order in November preventing Americans from investing in companies alleged to be affiliated with the Chinese military.

The investment ban goes into effect on January 11, just days before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. According to the NYSE, trading with the three companies may stop as early as Jan 7th or Jan 11th.

The Commerce Department said the US is “abusing national security and using state power to crack down on Chinese companies” and that the move “is inconsistent with market rules and logic, which not only harms the legitimate rights of Chinese companies,” but also the interests of investors in other countries, including the US. “

It added, “We hope that the US and China will work together to create a fair, stable and predictable business environment for companies and investors, so that bilateral economic and trade relations can re-emerge.”

Trump has pursued an aggressive economic agenda against China that has become even more restrictive since the emergence of Covid-19, which Trump derogatoryly called the “China virus” in Wuhan.

Biden is not expected to change US-China relations dramatically, and he said Monday he would “hold China’s government accountable for its abuses in trade, technology, human rights and other areas.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on China’s statement on Saturday. The Biden transition team also did not respond to a request for comment.

Subscribe to CNBC Pro for the live TV stream, deep insights and analysis of how to invest during the next president’s term.

Movie show house owners are pissed off with streaming, however their survival is dependent upon the studios

A Regal Cinemas movie theater stands on 42nd Street at night in New York, the United States, on Tuesday, October 6, 2020.

Amir Hamja | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A lot has changed in the entertainment industry in 2020. With the rise in coronavirus cases, audience discomfort, shortened cinema windows, and a greater focus on streaming has increased than ever before.

One thing has remained the same, however: the symbiotic relationship between studios and cinemas.

“Studios and exhibitions have always had a nice but controversial relationship,” said a cinema operator with locations in the southern United States on condition of anonymity. “The exhibition is basically a blank screen and empty seat business, and we can’t do what we do without the studios.”

Despite massive disruptions in the industry, cinema owners and distributors are doing everything they can to keep things professional at a time of high stress and emotion.

Cinema owners who spoke to CNBC said they understood why studios had to postpone large films and put some of those films on streaming services or on-demand platforms.

“Whether we agree with their solutions is a completely different story,” said the cinema operator.

Disrupt the status quo

Theater owners have been resistant to change for decades, especially when it comes to how long movies should be played in cinemas before they are allowed to use premium video-on-demand, home video or streaming services.

Up until that year, blockbuster films had to be shown in theaters for at least 90 days before they could be released anywhere else. This window usually comprised around 74 days of exclusive theatrical performances, two weeks of availability for digital publication and then the sale of home videos.

These windows were created by studios decades ago to “get multiple bites out of the same apple,” said another cinema operator.

In the months leading up to the pandemic, some studios were already in talks with theaters to modify these windows slightly. The result would have kept larger franchise films and blockbusters in theaters longer and allowed smaller budget films to get to direct-to-consumer channels faster.

However, when the pandemic had to close for nearly six months, desperation forced cinema operators to agree to new and significantly shorter release strategies in order to get out of the pandemic. After all, the big and small cinema chains have raised bankruptcy concerns over the past nine months.

Not to mention the number of locations in cinemas has decreased in recent months. As of last weekend, only around 35% of theaters in North America were open. Many of these closings are due to local restrictions, but some larger chains have chosen to close locations because they lose too much money opening with such limited quantities of product.

Gal Gadot plays Wonder Woman in “Wonder Woman 1984”.

Warner bros.

“Most studios experimented with alternative distribution when they were unable to distribute movies in normal windows,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush. “Universal tried Premium After a 17 day window, Disney tried Premium exclusive at a very high price, and Warner tried day and date streaming and theater. “

“The streaming window has always been the last resort,” he said.

As usual

While larger chains like AMC and Cinemark have been able to do deals with studios like Universal to reduce on-demand profits once movies have switched to streaming, smaller theater chains have less bargaining power.

“I’d say our relationships are pretty much the same as before,” said a Midwestern cinema owner, who asked for anonymity. “I deal with distribution presidents. In so many cases, those decisions are theirs. HBO Max’s decision was way above the distribution manager. Arguing with sales teams is no good, they fear their jobs too.”

“I’m mad at AT&T, I’m mad at Comcast,” he said. “I’m not exactly mad at the Warner Bros. distribution.”

For these smaller racetracks, decisions like AT & T’s to have the full list of 2021 Warner Bros. movies in theaters and streaming on the same day are costly. Having these titles available at home reduces the incentive for customers to go to the theater.

However, there are worse alternatives.

“We’re not happy with the day and date,” said the Midwest operator. “But I’d rather have a product day and date than no product at all.”

While many cinema operators are frustrated by the sudden surge in titles on streaming platforms, it should be noted that studios have made similar decisions about direct-to-consumer content in different forms for decades. Before streaming, there were films from major studios that went straight to VHS or DVD and skipped the cinemas entirely.

“The idea of ​​studios creating critical content for direct-to-home is not a unique concept,” said a global operator with a large national presence, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “What technology has done now is to let more of it. Content is king. Content was king before the virus and content becomes king after the virus. Content is where it starts and ends. That hasn’t changed.”

The way forward

As vaccination rates go up and cases go down, there will likely be more changes to the theatrical release model, but one thing is clear: cinema is not dead.

“What we learned during the pandemic is that it’s not easy to replace all of the lost cinema window revenue,” said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at MKM Partners. “That offers a lot of downstream revenue opportunities. There will be changes to the model, but I still think the theater stays something.”

Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Chapek admitted that his company had raised approximately $ 13 billion at the global box office in 2019, calling that achievement “nothing to sneeze about”. In fact, Disney had seven films that year with a total volume of more than $ 1 billion.

While Disney will be releasing the Raya and the Last Dragon animated feature simultaneously through Disney + and in theaters as premium video on demand in March, there are no plans to make this a permanent box office strategy. Disney executives said they will remain flexible about future releases, but made sure that titles like “Black Widow” and “Jungle Cruise” hit theaters as planned.

In 2019, the global box office was at its highest level ever at $ 42 billion. Already in markets like Japan, China and Australia, where coronavirus cases have dropped significantly, analysts and operators are seeing the box offices recover and thrive.

“At the end of the day, I think the theater will be back,” said Handler.

Representatives from Disney, AT&T and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.