Going to the movies has been a landmark social activity for about a century, but in just the last few years, its popularity has plummeted. The best chance for movie theaters to return to their former success may be the upcoming summer blockbusters.
Movie theaters rose to massive popularity in the 1920s and have evolved with technology since. Going to the movies became a staple, one rooted within our culture decades before television. The theater aesthetic is instantly recognizable: a dark room with comfy seats, vibrating surround sound and buttery popcorn.
However, like many public activities, movie theaters saw a huge loss of attendees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a couple of years after the worst of the pandemic, many public activities have resumed as normal, but movie theater attendance remains low. Part of this decrease in attendance is due to the rise of streaming services, which have been buying or creating blockbuster movies instead of releasing them in theaters.
The rise of streaming services makes sense. It’s clear this sort of service is more economical. Why pay for a movie ticket when, often for the same price, you can pay for a month of streaming that allows you to access hundreds of movies and shows? This line of thinking doesn’t paint the full picture, however. Going to the movies is about more than just consuming the content. It’s about the experience. It’s about going with friends or family, then completely ignoring them as the lights turn down and you’re deprived of anything to focus on besides the events unfolding on the huge screen in front of you. It’s a tradition that a lot of people, me included, don’t want to lose.
So, is movie theater attendance going to keep dropping? Are more theaters going to close? It could be that theaters are falling permanently out of fashion. I believe the best chance for the theater industry to revitalize itself will come with 2024’s summer blockbusters. This year’s summer movies — including “Barbie”, “Oppenheimer” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — gave some much-needed life back into theaters, but they didn’t fully reverse the downward trend and were followed by multiple blockbuster failures. Next summer could provide an even greater boost to theaters, as it already is lined with highly anticipated movies, including “Dune: Part Two” and “Deadpool 3.”
With a successful summer, theaters could return to the prominence they had before the pandemic. In 20 years, we might be going to movie theaters just as much as people did 20 years ago, or maybe the clock has finally run out on the industry. Either way, I know I’ll be grabbing some popcorn and sitting down to watch.
