back
13 comments
Some interesting parallels to today, but also differences, notably the popularity of streaming.

Here is a related study on the impact of COVID on movie-going in US:

Exhibition At A Crossroads (Nov 2021) PDF: https://thequorum.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Exhibition-...

About the study: "For Exhibition to thrive, it has to win back those who used to, but no longer go to the theater. This study looks at who those people are and what would get them to return"

---

All respondents in the study were asked to self-identify into one of five groups below. (Which do you identify with?)

Avid movie-goer: frequently go to the cinema/move theater

Infrequents: only sees one or two movies in theatres - no change change due to COVID

Reluctants: returned to theaters in spring, stopped when Delta variant emerged

Hopefuls: Same as the 'reluctants' above. Returned to theaters in spring but stopped when the Delta variant emerged

Likely losts: haven't been to theaters since the pandemic began; don’t see themselves returning in the future.

---

Could upgrades to the theatrical experience would bring people back? Respondents in the study rated the following features positively:

- More space between seats

- Newer seats

- Ability to order food from seat

- More large format screens

- Enforcement of phone usage

- Fewer commercials

Those group definitions don't seem all that well defined to me either. I would self identify as an infrequent movie goer (which I'm assuming contains the majority of movie goers).

The delta variant was confirmed in North America in April. So if you're an infrequent movie goer who goes to the theater once a year, and didn't go to the theaters during May of 2021, you don't fit in to any of those categories. That's going to skew the results and make it seem like a lot of people are likely lost, which I suppose could be true but I'm still looking forward to going back to the theaters anyway.

Yeah. Im an "infrequent" but, maybe because of that, movie going sure isn't one of the incremental risk activities that I'm about to untertake.
so alamo drafthouse
Why would I want to go to a movie theater? I have a better screen at home that shows what I want when I want.
This is such a HN response :)

Many people enjoy the experience to go out, have dinner or drinks, go to a local (independent) movie theater, interact with the people that work there, sit and hold hands with your SO, eat popcorn and watch a nice movie without being interrupted by anyone, without looking at your phone. Honestly, most of the time I don't even care what movie they're showing.

Obviously YMMV but that's what it's like for me.

You might not want to, but not everyone has the luxury of a nice home theater setup. Some people only have access to quality screens and audio at a local theater.

One of my primary preferences for watching movies in a theater is my engagement while watching. When I'm at home, I can too easily become distracted. Setting aside time in my schedule and being in a different environment helps me to focus and appreciate more details.

Also, if you're in a metropolitan area with access to an art-house theater, the types of films shown is often far more eclectic than current blockbusters. They can include showing of rare 35mm/70mm prints, short films from movie festivals, foreign films that tend to get limited releases in the US, re-releases of older classics. There's a lot of content that can be very difficult, even impossible, to find on streaming services. Those types of cinemas also tend to have much more respectful audiences, making the experience enjoyable to everyone there.

One of my local theaters offers film classes which entails showing a series of films, once per week, with group discussions held after the showing. Finding other movie aficionados and getting to engage in discourse is a great way of getting more from a movie watching experience. Not everyone has social groups which want to watch films in the same way. Many of my friends are happy to hang out and watch the latest Marvel release, but generally have no interest in watching anything released from the 70s or earlier.

I've rarely gone to theaters in decades but I have close friends who I was in the school film group with who are pretty adamant about how they prefer to watch a movie in a theater with other people.

It's also a (relatively) cheap and low friction option for a date, going out with friends, etc.

I honestly did wonder if the pandemic would permanently shift movie theater going as a behavior but the box office results suggest not--and that's with things not yet back to normal in much of the US.

Replicating Dune on IMAX with modern theater sound system at home would be... expensive. And take up a lot of room (gotta have room to place at least nine total speakers to even get close, to give them space from the wall and keep them sufficiently far from your seating that you're not left with just a single seat where it sounds right, et c.)
If you actually do have a better screen, do me a favour and invite me to the games room at some point, eh? :)
part of the bummer of the pandemic is building up a great home theater and not being able to have friends over to enjoy it.
How many movie tickets worth does your entire setup cost?
If the entire setup was used for movie tickets, it would not be a great cost comparison. However, it gets plenty of other use with two kids in the house.