making movie theaters GREAT again
yes I ROLLED MY OWN EYES at that subject line but alas! It's time to discuss reimagining the theater going experience.
Folks, I am a movie theater LUVER. I’m sure that comes as no real surprise but truly to me there is truly nothing more soothing, more relaxing, more freeing than a visit to the movie theater (minus the driving and parking but alas). The story on screen can be supernatural, animated, thrilling, heartbreaking, hilarious, action-filled, campy, straight up weird, or any concoction of a million other adjectives and I’m happy to be sat and seated. Because it’s not just the story that I am here for, I am here for the experience of that soothing, relaxing, freedom of being forced to shut off my severely addiction tiny screen and lose myself in this one big screen for an hour two.
If this isn’t the most intensely “first world” “millennial - gen-z” problem than I don’t know what is but when I have an afternoon free, that’s usually where you can find me.
Now, I know I am not the norm. I work in the film industry, I want to write in this industry. I have no children aka my time is all my own and I have money to spare on what can quickly add up to an expensive afternoon/day.
But despite my love for the movie theater experience, they have been facing an uphill battle for decades. And whilst!! I wrote this post last week, Matt Belloni and the Town were also having the same conversation live at Cinemacon. I was VERY excited when they went a bit deep into one of my hopeful plans (#4 which is my personal fave)!
I was about to dig into a deep dive of the history of the movie theater-going experience but then I read this post from
and knew I could never do it more justice.
Since 2019, the number of screens operating in the United States has declined 12 percent, to 36,369 as of 2023 but as Alex so beautifully denotes… “The movie theater is not failing because audiences have rejected it. It is failing because it has been profit-maxxed into dysfunction and, in some cases, infiltrated by forces that literally seek to destroy it.”
So how do we…
REINVENT THE THEATER-GOING EXPERIENCE
Let’s be realistic.
The competition is real
As Alex explained, TV was the first major competitor to movie theaters. Then came the VCR (remember when studios thought recording movies at home would be the end of Hollywood?). Then came the DVDs, then the smartphones, then the streaming, then the social media, all bringing in a unique version of the most individualized experience yet.
The Attention Economy
In today’s world, human attention is the most important commodity on the market. Every app, website, and platform is in a full-blown cage match to grab it—and hold onto it—for as long as possible.
“The concept of attention economy was first coined in the late 1960s by Herbert A. Simon, characterizing the problem of information overload as an economic one. However, the concept has become increasingly popular with the rise of the internet making content (supply) increasingly abundant and immediately available, and attention becoming the limiting factor in the consumption of information.” (New Economics for Sustainable Development)
Companies aren’t just hoping you’ll stop by; they’re actively designing their spaces to keep you scrolling, clicking, and watching aka TRAPPED. Because more of your time means more money in their pockets. And then they can scrape your data and resell it to god knows who?! HEHEHEHE, it would be funny if it wasn’t sooo SerIoUS
These companies win when you forgo a night out with friends, when you decide to keep doom-scrolling instead of picking up that book, when you stay glued to your couch because autoplay on Netflix has already started the next episode before you can even think about moving.
And let’s be honest—they’re winning.
The battle for our attention isn’t just happening at the box office. It’s happening every second of every day, across every screen in our lives.
Video-on-Demand (VOD) & Streaming – Why leave your house when you can watch literally anything on demand? Why spend $20 on a single movie ticket when that same $20 gets you an entire month of Netflix, Max, or Hulu or a newly released movie just a WEEK after it was in theaters?
Video Games – Gamers will tell you: Why spend two hours in a theater when you can actively participate in a story for dozens of hours? Games like Call of Duty, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Fortnite provide social experiences that are interactive, customizable, semi-sociable and endless—something a movie simply can’t do.
YouTube, Instagram, & TikTok – These platforms are no longer “social media platforms” to socialize with your friends. They are entertainment JUGGERNAUTS with an algorithmic drug. Okay, I mean, instagram high-key sucks at it. But the other two crush. Instead of committing to a two-hour movie, you can get bite-sized dopamine hits every few seconds. Scroll, click, laugh, repeat. Plus, platforms like YouTube are free and always available—no driving, no tickets, no overpriced popcorn. And the niche personalization of what you can find is par-to none.
And let’s not forget - FOMO culture fuels this. If you skip a movie in theaters, you might catch it later on streaming. But if you don’t keep up with TikTok trends, Twitch streams, or YouTube drama? You’re already behind.
Don’t even get me started on the choice paralysis. Streaming platforms bombard us with so many options, and yes some of it’s a bit SLOGGY, that it’s easier to just rewatch The Office than commit to something new.
In short: Convenience, customization, and constant engagement are what theaters are up against. And so far? They’re losing.
big prices, meh quality
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Movie tickets are expensive, yes. We know that. But what’s worse than a $20 ticket? A $10 bucket of stale popcorn, a $7 watered-down soda, and a $15 pretzel that tastes like rubber. All in we are at a loss of $52 FOR ONE PERSON! I wanted to pull again from the genius that is -
Let’s return to the opening scenario. This time, let’s ask ourselves: is it movies that have ruined the moviegoing experience, or is it something else? We’ll cite the sources of these “pain points” in [brackets]:
“See it on the big screen,” they urged – insisted, actually [social media]. Something they do less and less these days [smartphone addiction]. So here you are, miles from your couch, heeding the hype.
No one seems to work here [cost-cutting]. After a grubby kiosk shakes you down for $16 [automation], you find a frazzled teen to zap your stub and fetch your popcorn (another $16) [corporate consolidation]. You ease into a sticky, broken seat, and after 20 soul-murdering minutes of BWAAAs and BWOWWs [TV-ification] - it begins.
The projection is dim [automation], the sound is muffled, but the crinkling wrappers, inane chatter and glowing phone screens are highly immersive [again, smartphones]. Two hours later and $32 poorer, you shamble out, vowing never to return to this cursed place. And this time, you mean it.
If you’re going to charge premium prices, the experience should feel premium—and right now in America it’s far from it. I went to a “higher end theater” the other day and ended up in a seat that I could NOT recline because it was so loud, the entire cushioning was all tore up!! I understand recliners don’t work for IMAX sometimes but if one of your selling points is a “luxury experience” then… uhh we might want to keep our seats up to date.
Why would someone put up with all this when they could just stay home, kick their feet up, and stream something in perfect quality on their 65-inch TV with a fridge full of afforable snacks?
This is the core issue: If theaters want to charge premium prices, they need to deliver a premium experience. Otherwise, they’re just pushing more and more people toward their couches.
Potential Solutions
No, I don’t think adding a bowling alley is 100% going to fix the issue (looking at you, The National Association of Theatre Owners). But people WANT to go to theaters. They are still hungry for the communal experience. As
mentioned - “And yet, for some baffling reason, movie theaters are still hanging on. There’s even evidence that moviegoing is increasing, or at least recovering to pre-pandemic levels.”And I do think there are a lot of ways in which theaters can THRIVEEE