The Netflix having disabled HD video streaming in Europe to keep from putting so much strain on internet infrastructure. While the magnitude is unexpectedly high, this kind of disruption wasn’t difficult to predict. What exactly people are watching, on the other hand, is a whole other story.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been a big rise in certain genres of movies; some aren’t too surprising. Cartoons and kids’ movies are understandable, as many kids are out of school for the foreseeable future. Where it starts to get weird is disease or disaster movies and TV shows, as people appear to lean in to the pandemic than seek solace in it, and some patterns may be even stranger than that.
A particularly weird one is the seeming popularity of creepy clowns. Specifically, the recent It movies and It Chapter 2 were late 2019 releases. The presence of movies like Knives Out on many of these lists points to it being more about recency, though it’s hard to entirely rule out the connection. Given other movies that are surprisingly popular, too, some viewers really don’t want to shy away from being scared.
What’s obviously no coincidence is the 2012 is suddenly very popular despite featuring almost every disaster except a pandemic. Rather than finding something more comforting or distracting, a large number of viewers seem to be wanting to live out an epidemic or disaster through entertainment rather than just in reality.
The most expected but still notable are movies and TV shows made for or appealing to kids. With how many children are home due to schools being shut down, it only makes sense that kids are watching more movies than normal. Space Jam is up there, though whether it’s popular with kids or with adults who grew up with it is up for debate.
While coronavirus has obviously changed how movies are being watched, it’s also changing what movies people are watching in unexpected ways. From a rise in kids’ movies as schools are closed to maybe a rise in creepy clowns, viewing habits have changed during this pandemic. While these changes in taste aren’t likely to be permanent, they’re still a fascinating look at how people deal with such a crisis.
