‘ The Invisible Man is in your home’: pandemic-era Watch Parties as ephemeral media events

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the distribution of many films since 2020, but none more so than films that were in theaters when lockdowns closed multiplexes. To compensate for the collapsed theatrical window, studios quickly shifted films like Emma, The Hunt, and The Invisible Man to premium video-on-demand (or PVOD) rentals and fashioned ad-hoc promotional campaigns accentuating the surprise of their sudden digital availability. The centerpiece of these studio efforts was the ‘Watch Party’, which asked people to rent and watch the films ‘together’ with synchronized start times and real-time Twitter conversations. Studios also enlisted celebrity participants, including filmmakers who shared behind-the-scenes insights and digital influencers who delivered reactionary riffs on the films. Close analysis of promotional materials (e.g. social media posts, videos, key art) reveals that rather than replicating the theatrical viewing environment, Watch Parties instead imitated Social TV initiatives of the 2010s, including live-tweeted chatter, targeted hashtags, celebrity contributions, and canned production anecdotes. Although Watch Parties waned as the pandemic brought new distribution challenges, their emergence demonstrates Hollywood’s continued interest in constructing shared, limited-time, and now multi-screen experiences. This article identifies Watch Parties as ephemeral media events that are part of the lineage of ritualistic media events and nine-figure marketing plans but that also leverage the surprise of unique distribution circumstances to create short-lived bursts of virality and immediacy. The framework provides a new perspective on digital distribution and media events amid the increased industry and consumer preoccupation with on-demand streaming portals.