How Can We Revive the Movie Theater Experience?

By Todd Robinson

The movie theater business has been struggling for years. Streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney Plus have made it hard for the business to succeed. People would rather stay home and watch a film on their television screen instead of going to the theaters. Even though the modern audience is somewhat responsible for not going to the theaters, I wouldn’t fully blame it on them.

These streaming services have conditioned the modern audience to wait till a movie is on a streaming platform. Netflix recently made a film called The Electric State which had a budget of 320 million dollars. This film was only available on Netflix, which shouldn’t be the case.   

One of the solutions to fix the movie industry is to have big budget films go to theaters first and then go on a streaming platform. When the audience is used to seeing expensive films at home, what’s the point of going to the theaters. Star Wars, Marvel, and Lord of the Rings made the movie experience an event, so it’s important to keep that alive.

Releasing original films in the theaters can help the business quite a bit. Many audience members get tired of seeing films that are from popular franchises. To keep the movie theater experience exciting, it is necessary to give the audience original content. A good example of an original film that should’ve been released in theaters is Rebel Ridge. This thriller/action film would’ve been awesome for audiences to see it on the big screen.

Making sure films have a longer theatrical window could also be beneficial. Nowadays films stay in the theaters for around 30 days. Just for comparison, in the 1990s, films would stay in the theaters for around three months. This gives extra time for a film to make its money back but nowadays the window is getting shorter. An article from Collider called “The Electric States Massive Price Tag is Proof that Netflix Needs to Slow Down and Embrace Theatrical Releases,” Jennings stated, “Imagine if The Electric State was in theaters for two months before being able to stream on Netflix; it would drive interest, and word of mouth, which could lead to more subscribers for Netflix.” Not only would it help theaters, but Netflix could benefit from it as well.   

People don’t go to the theaters as much because of how expensive it can be. Families that go to the theaters will most likely have to pay 60 to 100 dollars. This can cause parents to be picky about which films they want to see and possibly skip certain films to save some money. To fix this issue, lowering ticket and concession prices would help. The average ticket price in 2019 was 9.16 dollars, now it’s 10.78 dollars. This is an 18 percent increase, which is concerning. This is an economic issue, not only a movie theater issue, but the movie industry needs to figure this out as soon as possible.  

Even though the movie industry had a rough time within the past few years, I do think there is a possibility to revive it again. Movie theaters can offer escapism and wonder, people need this because life can be stressful at times. Focusing on making the theater experience an event is key if the movie industry wants to be successful in the future.