Why Movie Theaters are Failing

Following a dismal holiday weekend where a big budget franchise entry in Furiosa failed to meet box office expectations. This in on top of a 2023 that saw big brands like Marvel, DC, Indiana Jones, the Universal Monsters, Mission Impossible, and Pixar hit hard box office times. In fact, aside from true events like Dune 2 and Barbenheimer there were plenty of butts not in seats at the multiplex lately. There is a multi-threaded reason for this and I will look at what the reasons are for the current state of movie theaters.

Quality of Movies: For years now people have joked that all we have now are sequels, reboots, and superhero movies. While the cracks have been wise that is largely what has been propping up the industry for the past number of years. The mid-budget movie has largely faded away as pricing has left moviegoers cautious about the risk of something new (more on that in later entries) and will likely wait until it hits streaming (more on that as well). Big studios found that pumping big dollars into big properties seemed to net success and things like the Avengers and Batman proved this right for a long while. But now the bubble is bursting as the dreaded loom.ng threat of “franchise fatigue” seems to be setting in. The tentpole movies that had been holding the entire industry together have now evolved into largely soulless corporate productions and the masses have seemingly grown weary of it and with this being the main productions of companies lately the backlash was bound to be felt hard. As mentioned before moviegoers will turn out for an event like Barbenheimer or the Taylor Swift concert film, but moments like these are few and far between.

Quality of the Experience: Sticky floors. People playing on their phones. Kids running around. Technical issues. Jabronis poorly attempting an MST3K audition. Moviegoers know these problems all too well and have likely experienced them firsthand. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing more fulfilling than a great cinematic moment experienced by an entire room filled with strangers who bond over hearing “No, Luke. I am your father.” or learning Jigsaw had been on the floor all along or Captain America after years of build-up finally say “Avengers Assemble” before leading the heroes to battle. It’s not even the big blockbusters, at my local arthouse theater I recently went to see the 1966 Japanese cult classic Black Tight Killers and it was an absolute blast as the crowd bought completely into the retro fun. But the moviegoing experiences between these can be made insufferable. Imagine seeing Godzilla Minus One and as the monster is charging up to unleash his atomic breath, a bored toddler decides to yell while running up and down the aisle or the projector crashes and the house lights come on. With home theater systems becoming so much more advanced, people no longer have to pay for the inconveniences constantly met at the cinema.

Cost: Legendary director Quentin Tarantino once said that cinema has long been the form of art for the working class. There was a time that for a single price of admission prospective moviegoer could head to the local theater and take in two films, a news reel, and cartoons played on loop for anyone to pop in. We have seen that even in then worst of times films have been there for us; during the Depression movies like Frankenstein, The Public Enemy, the Wizard of Oz and The Thin Man gave people the escapism they craved. During the social and economic chaos of the 70’s we had The Godfather, Superman, Star Wars, Halloween, and Rocky. But now if you want to take your partner and two and a half kids to a night at the movies complete with soda and popcorn you likely need to calculate what you would get from a HELOC loan. People will go on about inflation but movie tickets haven’t played by the rule. In 1981 if you wanted to see Raiders of the Lost Ark it would run you on average 2.78 which today comes to 9.61. However, seconds ago I checked my local theater here in Memphis in the middle of the country, not LA or New York, and the price to see Bad Boys: Ride or Die tonight would is 14.50. For the statistically typical 4.5 person unit would run 65.25 and that’s before the notoriously expensive soda and popcorn.

Short Release Window: One of the lone bright spots in 2020 was that the big studios had no problem putting their big new releases on whatever corporately owned streaming services. Normally movies like Mortal Kombat I wouldn’t bother seeing in the theater but if its gonna hit HBO Max I may as well watch it because there was nothing else to do and it was right there. This is a drastic departure from how the home release system once was. It was not long ago when a big movie would hit theaters and, if successful, would run for months THEN it would transition to discount theaters for a spell THEN it would be available on VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray so if you had to see a movie, going to the multiplex would be the only way to take it until several months passed and you could own a copy. As a result of the Global Bastard, things have changed and big studios can’t, or won’t wait, to get there films onto streaming services in the hopes of bumping subscriber numbers in an overcrowded marketplace. So if you want to see the new Spider-Man movie and don’t want to sit through all the hassle, you can rest easy that in a matter of weeks it will pop up on Disney + so they don’t even have to go to the local Wal Mart to get a copy of the flick (though skipping out on physical media will bite them on the head). And with hi-tech TVs and sound systems becoming more affordable and obtainable for everyone, your average family can enjoy a moviegoing experience without their derriere having to leave their chair in the living room.