Movie-Going: The Business Aspect
Image sources: chartr and statista
By Sophia Fineza
Going to the movies is fun. Point Blank Period. But with movie-going already declining, this fun and very social activity will only be experienced by a small group of people moving forward.
I’ve made so many memories going to the movies with a big group of friends, taking the train, and getting sick off of movie popcorn. Going to the cinema is a large part of popular culture, and a great way to get out of the house to hang out with friends, go on a date, or just spend time with your family. As Ava so eloquently stated, in part-one of this series, “the theater is one of the most magical places on Earth.”
However, going to an actual physical movie theater is something many people just don’t want to do anymore. Movie theater ticket sales in the US have been going down pretty steadily since it’s peak way back in 2002, so the appeal of movie-going started declining even before I was born. Maybe it was the lack of quality movies, an increase of quality television, or an improvement of the home-viewing experience which jumpstarted this, but no doubt the introduction of streaming services pushed this change. In 2006, Amazon Prime Video (known as Unbox back then) was introduced to the world. Not far behind, Hulu launched in 2007, along with Netflix’s online streaming service in the same year. These services offer so much more convenience, and they essentially eliminate the middleman that is the theater companies. I’m sure you or someone you know has thought, “Hey, it’s too expensive. Why don’t we just take that money we would use for a movie ticket, and buy the same movie on our TV in about 4 months?” Maybe not those exact words, but you get the point. For many, leaving the house can be too much of an effort and with the growth in popularity of streaming services, you no longer have to put on actual clothes to see a movie. You can just hop on your couch and pull up Hulu or Netflix.
Now, with the Coronavirus pandemic, and quarantine regulations in place, most movie theaters are closed, or only have limited seating. This is causing the theater companies to lose more money. Thus introduces the question: what’s going to happen to the theaters? Will they become obsolete? People are already not as interested in going to the movies, but COVID-19 might be the final push to the end of movie-going as we know it. Netflix has stepped up their game with constant new original movie releases, and new services such as Disney+, which launched last year, and HBO Max, which launched on May 27th, will have exclusive movie releases that will by-pass the theaters. Netflix and Disney+ have reached up to 183 million and 55 million global paid subscribers, respectively, which means a lot of people around the world have the option to skip the movie-going experience if they want.
According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, 47% of moviegoers said they were “very unlikely” to go to the movies within a month of theaters reopening, while just 7% said they were “very likely” to go. And even when they reopen, theaters will not only have fewer seats available but will also have many changes in place like temperature taking of attendees, masks for the staff, and additional cleaning in between showtimes. How long this will last will most likely be determined by how quickly a vaccine is developed. But even then, I suspect many people who have been on the fence about movie-going already will just skip this activity altogether.
And as theater chains are losing money, bigger companies are looking to acquire them. Amazon is interested in purchasing AMC theaters - the largest theater company in the US. If a deal happens, no matter the way people want to watch their movies, Amazon will benefit from it. Other companies such as Apple or Netflix might turn to buying movie theaters as well - owning not only the movies but also the way we watch them. These rebranded theaters might have a different look, and possibly new ways of buying tickets or concessions. For more information on what the new generation of movie theaters may look like, check out this article.
With all these changes and potential factors, one thing is for certain - movie-going will never be the same.