Inside, Outside
Downton Abbey, the movie, shows a new, old path forward
The reviews are in. The box office has been tallyed. More importantly, I’ve seen it. The results are unanimous: the Downton Abbey movie is brilliant.
Now, the movie itself is good. But what I find most interesting here is the way in which it was released. That is to say: in theaters, after a hiatus following its exit from television four years ago.
All of this sounds like it should be obvious. Because it is! And yet, we’ve lived in a world the past several years, if not decades, where this formula has been flubbed over and over again. But now that we’re at the dawn (well, perhaps morning) of a new era, with streaming, I think we have a clear way forward.
First, to recap: Downton Abbey debuted in 2010.¹ It ran for six seasons and built up a rabid fan base before the finale in 2015. That finale was generally well-conceived and received. But there was always a lingering hope for more. That’s what we got this year, with the film. And in just about every way, it’s a better ending to the show. Maybe a wee bit convenient and sure, perhaps too tidy complete with a nice big bow wrapped around it. But come on, this is what the people wanted! Especially in our current macro environment. It’s perhaps peak escapism.
Anyway, again, zooming out, I also think it’s the path forward for not just “traditional” TV programs, but for streaming ones as well. You could easily envision a world in which a show launches on Netflix, has a successful five or six year run, then goes away for a bit, only to re-emerge with a finale film.
In many ways, this is similar to what I wished HBO would have done with Game of Thrones. But that was fairly obvious given the cinematic scale and scope of that series from the get-go. Downton Abbey, less so.
I mean, a drama about British aristocrats and those who serve them in the early 20th century just beat a (well received!) Brad Pitt sci-fi movie, Ad Astra, and Rambo at the US box office. Rambo! Fucking Last Blood!
And it not only beat those two films, it trounced them. The per-screen average was basically double those two, more standard theater-fare. This feels like a new era. Based on an old one.
And so I find myself wishing that Breaking Bad would have taken a similar approach with El Camino.² I know it’s Netflix and they’ll do a good job and it will be awesome for so many folks to watch on day one. But come on. What Breaking Bad fan wouldn’t want to go see this in a movie theater on week one?
But no one went to see Serenity, you say!³ They flubbed it, I say. Alas, that was a different era.
¹ Well, it debuted in the UK in 2010 on ITV. It came to the US in 2011 on PBS.
² I refuse to call it “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” because that’s a title which is insulting to our collective intelligence.
³ This was, of course, the theatrical offshoot of the sci-fi TV show Firefly. One major difference is that the show only aired for one season and was cancelled due to low ratings. Yes, it was a cult hit, that grew in stature over time, but not enough to warrant the theatrical release. Instead, they should have rebooted it first as a Netflix show to see if it could build the base for an eventual movie.
