Shah Rukh Khan, while speaking at 2018's Global Business Summit, predicted some upcoming shifts in the film industry.
Actor and activist Shah Rukh Khan spoke at the fourth annual Economic Times Global Business Summit in February 2018 about the change in cinema and its consumption over the past few years.
He started speaking about the radical change in cinema, its content over the years, and the way people have started consuming cinema. While discussing the ‘greatest change’ in cinema, he spoke about the opening up of communication information on the digital platform and how there would be no control over how information is passed. In order to explain further, he made five points about how the cinema of the future is going to be affected and what changes will come about.
“First of all, with the rise of digitization and big data, people’s ways of using, watching, and critiquing movies will change,” he said. However, he focused mostly on how people would advertise films. One of his acquaintances told him that the theatre would see no foot traffic, but that the amount of loss they would face in the “traditional sense” would be equal to the amount they would gain by drawing more people using big data. And in a nation such as India, where there is a vast untapped market for digital consumption, this is how large corporations will dominate.
He predicted that movies would be shorter, with no intervals, and based on social and psychological geographies, as everyone would be talking and exchanging ideas in the digital world. As a result, anyone would be able to make movies, production companies would suffer, and audiences would be able to provide direct feedback, similar to how Netflix does.
Next, Shah Rukh discussed the future of the moviegoing experience. An individual could, for instance, alter the plot of the film they are currently viewing to suit their preferences. The entertainment industry would benefit from this.
He also discussed the significance of Artificial Intelligence, visual effects, and virtual reality, which will “reduce the necessity of performers.” For instance, the audience would not be able to tell if the actors they are watching in a film are genuine or CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). He quoted the American filmmaker Mr. George Lucas, ‘The community viewing of cinema would still exist, but in a different way. It would be more exclusive, but also more expensive. He added that movies would run for more than a year and the experience would be like that in the olden times.
He ended his speech by saying that anyone who wants to make a movie does not need to hire a movie star. Instead, they should actively seek out talent, invest in its development, and integrate it into their operational framework. And that is how the film industry will thrive. Humans are moved by ideas because they tap into emotions that have the power to both advance and demolish society. He stated that the development of human emotions is critical to the future of cinema around the world and that aspiring filmmakers should take care to sell “the appropriate emotion” that will make audiences more empathetic, rather than antagonistic.
