What was the last movie you saw? Did you see it in theaters, or did you find it easier to just watch it on streaming services?
Often, if there’s a movie we want to watch, we’ll think “Oh, I’ll just wait til it comes out on streaming.” But are we losing the theater experience? By waiting for streaming, are we taking away fun experiences at the theater from our life?
While most of us have all been to the theater when we were kids, it might be too expensive for the experience now when we could just wait and watch it at home. It’s around $15 for the average ticket, and potentially as much as $25. If we want to have food while we watch, and don’t sneak it in, that could be an additional $15 or even more depending on what you get.
Fifteen dollars for a theater ticket isn’t that much for one person, but if a family wants to see a movie, it suddenly seems a lot more appealing to just see the movie at home. Let’s say a family of four sees a movie. Assuming the theater has a discount for kids (~$10), and there are two kids, you’ll be paying around $50.
Perhaps our habits from the Covid-19 pandemic has leaked into our lives today. During the pandemic, of course, we couldn’t just go out to the theaters to see a movie. Instead, we’d just use our streaming platforms to watch new movies- bring the theater experience to our homes. Today, we still stay at home most of the time to watch movies.
Covid-19 was also a big theater killer – nobody was coming in to watch movies, so a lot of theaters closed down. Without theaters to go to nearby, many people would rather watch from home. Why drive 20 minutes to the closest theater to see a movie when you can watch it on your TV for free – or even your phone?
Another reason fewer people are coming to the theater is that movies aren’t as appealing now. With studios like Disney, people are hoping for exciting new movies, and are mostly getting sequels. Sequels can be good, like Zootopia 2, but most people find sequels to be cash grabs. When Disney released a new movie last year, Elio, people found it to be under advertised and underwhelming.
“The last movie I watched was Forrest Gump. It’s a classic, it has good comedy and a pretty decent plotline.” Catelyn Fox (9) said.
A movie that brought people to the theater was A Minecraft Movie, although it wasn’t exactly from the quality of the movie. Videos showing theaters throwing popcorn and screaming along with the parts of the movie shown in the trailer went viral, causing people to actually want to go to the theater to see for themselves if it was true, or to participate in the madness.
“The last movie I watched was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but the last movie I saw in theaters was the newest Conjuring movie. I liked it, it wasn’t as scary as I wanted it to be but it was okay,” Lauren Fereday (9) said.
Without the enjoyment, attention span, locations, and quality, movie theaters are dying out. It’s hard to say if we’ll ever fully phase out theaters entirely, but as time passes, we’re going less and less. Maybe we’re just in a small period of time where all the quality movies are still in development, and soon, theaters will be bustling with people and with movies those people are dying to see.
