The recent actor strike in Hollywood has caused major delays for many if not all films.
Some examples of this are upcoming films such as Godzilla vs. Kong the New Empire, Dune Part 2, Avatar 3-5, and Spider-Verse Part 3.
The release of Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse’s follow up was projected to be released only 10 months after the debut film. But now after the writer and actor strike, its release has been delayed releasing until around early summer of 2024 or longer.
The current conditions of the strike are that writers and actors cannot engage in any film or television productions and cannot take part in promotional work.
This is a major issue because aside from films that are already finished (like the new “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie) there is currently not a foreseeable time for production on films to resume. After this last wave of finished movies comes out this year, Hollywood may go years without another film coming out.
The reasoning for this writer and actor strike is that Hollywood has been overworking and underpaying their writers and actors revolving around many film projects as of recently like “Across the Spider-Verse.” Disney specifically is being called out for their treatment of VFX artists.
The writers had enough of putting all their blood, sweat, and tears into a script or story that would be enjoyed by the entire world because they were barely being paid for their remarkable feats.
Actors soon followed in this strike both in support of the writers and for their own issues with Hollywood’s increasing “quantity over quality,” approach they have been employing as of late.
Pay inequality in Hollywood has been another problem with most actors only making a measly $26,000 a year for their labor. It should be obvious that these numbers do not apply to A-list superstars like The Rock or Ryan Gosling. However, median salaries are too low.
This is very bad news not only for the entire entertainment industry but also for viewers and enjoyers of films and shows. It would be difficult to imagine a summer without any big-budget blockbusters from Hollywood to look forward to.
But that’s not to say that the entire film market is going to collapse with no new films. There are always foreign studios to turn to if Hollywood ceases production in the worst-case scenario.
Attorney Elizabeth J. McInturff on WBALTV11 explained some of the reasoning behind the strike. She attributes a major reason for the strike to the “streaming service effect.”
She defines this as “Actors are not receiving the same residuals that Netflix and Amazon Prime do when their products are watched or rewatched.” This is to say that actors receive no benefit from their products being viewed, with all the money going to the streaming services instead.
The actors/ writers have only agreed to stop their strike if their basic requirements of “better pay and working conditions,” are met.
This is important because as of right now, both actors and writers are quite underpaid and overworked. So, unless Hollywood can meet their working-class demands, then there may not be much of Hollywood going forward at the very least until the early months of 2024.
