Bryan Lourd with daughter Billie Lourd — Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — With theater chains just starting to re-open after months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many inside and outside of Hollywood are wondering what comes next. 

For one, super-agent Bryan Lourd, who represents A-list clients like Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and is the co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency, said the industry will get back on its feet.

“I believe it will come back,” Lourd said during the 44th Annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium, according to Deadline.

“…I think there will be a certain type of event movie with big global themes and dazzling, either movie stars or directors, who are the best of their day…and that will be reserved for four or five times a year for people.”

Obviously, that’s far fewer times than people used to go to the theater — and streaming is behind the change.

“I think behavioral patterns are permanently changed as a result of what we’ve all just been through and what we are going through now,” Lourd explained. “The ability to see almost anything you want in a quality way in your home, in a safe environment, when you want to, is unbeatable in so many ways.”

He believes that it will cause movie studios to “evolve” in regards to what they bring to theaters and when, still insisting, “I don’t think it is dead or gone.”

Despite the ease of streaming, Lourd insists moviegoers still miss the shared experience of the theater. “I think the first Friday night in the next six months or year, or three months, whenever it is [safe], will maybe be one of the biggest nights in movies, in the history of the business,” Lourd said. “I think that the audience is dormant and waiting, same thing with concerts, same thing with sports.”

By Stephen Iervolino
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