Contagion Becomes Second-Hottest Movie in Warner Bros. Library Due to Coronavirus

Contagion is now the second-hottest movie in the Warner Bros. catalog as a result of coronavirus [...]

By Aaron Perine

Contagion is now the second-hottest movie in the Warner Bros. catalog as a result of coronavirus curiosity. The news comes straight from the company as they talked to The New York Times about how sharply demand has risen around the film. Back in December, Contagion was the 270th title in their library. Compare that to now where it only sits behind Harry Potter movies in popularity. Over on Amazon Prime Video, the film has threatened to crack the top 10. All of the strangeness of the streaming age is out in full force.

Maybe it's not so strange that the 2011 thriller is surging back up the ladder in the same week that R.E.M.'s "It's The End of the World cracked the Billboard Hot 100 despite being released in 1987. Those are the times right now, and people are anxious to gain some insight. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins actually paid $12.99 to watch the nearly 10-year-old feature according to The Times. He, like a lot of viewers wanted to see how the tale stacked up to what's going on across the world. Well, things are not as bleak as in that film, where the world gets ravaged by the disease. Still, people are curious.

"I was really curious to see how well it would line up to what is happening right now," Mr. Jenkins said. "It was shocking. It felt like I was watching a documentary that has all these movie stars playing real people."

Steven Soderbergh's film focuses on a virus called MEV-1. That strain originated in Asia and transmits through touch. When the symptoms start to begin, a severe cough begins and from there, things get a bit grim. If you really feel attached to the main characters and famous movie stars, nobody is safe in Contagion. Bear that in mind if you can find somewhere to watch it this weekend. A lot of social media users are planning on bingeing their way through this strange situation in their homes.

"Social Distancing," a concept that has often been discussed this week, actually makes an appearance in the film. The film also focuses on the brave efforts of the scientists who end up playing a major role in trying to contain the virus. Scott Z. Burns wrote the script for Contagion and talked about how the virus allowed them to underline some problems in society.

"These viruses are tracer bullets through our society," Burns explained. "They illuminate a lot of the problems that we have. One of the things I didn't anticipate was that we would have an issue with how truthful and on top of things our administration would be. I remember being most concerned that the spread of misinformation could be as prolific and dangerous as the virus."

Will you be watching Contagion over the weekend? Or is that just a bit too on the nose? Let us know in the comments!

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