It was the worst year in movie box office history. Critics stopped working. Production stalled. Blockbusters flopped. Vanity Fair asked: "Has Coronavirus Already Destroyed the Movie Business?". Many feared 2020 had put an end to film for good.

Two years after the first wave, things could not be more different. The film industry is revving back into action. When the Academy Award nominees were announced last week, they revealed a rich, diverse medium. 

The next day, Amazon Prime Video signed a multi-million-pound deal for a vast studio in SheppertonThe first studio in Shepperton was founded in 1931, on the grounds of a manor house. The site has been in use ever since., near London. Studio chairman Paul Golding called it a "ringing endorsement of... the UK film and TV industry".

Amazon is not alone. Rival Netflix plans to double the size of its neighbouring facility. To meet demand, experts say Britain will need 2.3 million sq ft of studio space by 2033. Last year saw a record-breaking £5.6bn spent on film and high-end TV production in the UK. The surge is global: the final three months of 2021 saw an all-time high of 10,780 shoot days in Los AngelesA city in California, USA. It is known for one of its districts - Hollywood, home of the US film industry..

Every era has its dominant art form. The Ancient Greeks had sculpture. The Renaissance had painting. The Victorians had their three-deckerA popular format of the novel in 19th-Century England. Books would be released in three separate volumes, funded by subscriptions. novels. Some believe that film enjoys this position today.

The first was made in 1878The year the English photographer Edward Muybridge created the first moving picture, showing a horse in motion.. But it has taken decades to reach its peak. Moving images were initially seen as a fairground novelty, then as sappy entertainment. But now, cinema is taken as seriously as any other art form. As director Ken Loach says: "It's as valid as novels or fine art."

Film is more accessible than ever. A book is a physical object that has to be bought or loaned. A production of a play can only be seen in one place for a limited run. Through streaming, thousands of films can be watched on-demand, anywhere in the world. And unlike novels, they can be quickly subtitled using AI. Not for nothing does director Paolo Sorrentino call cinema a "universal language".

It is also more inclusive. A handful of Hollywood studios used to enjoy a near-monopoly over studio production. Now film encompasses everything from superhero epics to low-budget indie productions shot using a smartphone. And the creators behind the films are more diverse than ever.

The late critic Roger EbertA very influential American film critic. He was the first writer on film to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. once said: "The movies are like a machine that generates empathy". Moving pictures remain unrivalled in their ability to make us feel about the world's sufferings, whether hard-pressed Korean workers or refugees from the Syrian War. 

Yet not everyone agrees. For Martin Scorsese, great art provides "unexpected and maybe even unnameable areas of experience". The sheer volume of films that already exist - one estimate is 500,000 - makes it difficult for filmmakers to create such originality.

And it is challenged by other art forms. TV has increased in quality and enjoyed its own peakAt the highest level; maximum. Since the early 00s, there has been a surfeit of high-quality television dramas, often starring Hollywood actors. This era has been referred to as Peak TV, or the Golden Age of Television.. Video games are getting more complex and adventurous. Technologies like VR threaten to trump the cinema's immersive qualities. From gothic architectureThis elaborate, grandiose style of architecture flourished in medieval Europe after builders discovered a pointed arch would bear more weight than the round ones previously popular. to CubismAn artistic movement at the beginning of the 20th Century which involved looking at an object from multiple viewpoints., important art has often been on the cutting edge. Few would say the same about film today.

Yes: The most popular paintings were painted long ago. The greatest novels belong to the 19th Century. No band will ever make an impact like the Beatles. Only film continues to push art in new directions.

No: Film might be having a moment. But it is past its artistic peak, reduced to recycling old glories: last year's highest-grossing film starred Spider-Man, a character created in 1962.

Or...? No one art form is the best. Different genres have always co-existed. Indeed, they often complement each other. Many of the most popular films of all time are based on books and comics.