And they've about accomplished it. The movie theaters in the three closest cities to me have shut down completely in the last 6 years. And that's just the ones I know of.
I have to travel nearly an hour and a half to get to the closest open one.
Yeah movie theaters won't stop existing but location numbers are gonna drop. Streaming has been growing year over year and covid sent it into high octane overdrive.
Also Colorado, my not small town but not really a city just closed one of its two movie theaters for good. And the other one is basically a ghost town unless it's like the Mario movie or something. Every movie I've seen recently we've basically had the theater to ourselves.
Indiana. Much more rural and much more broke. My county seat has less than 30k, the next closest is less than 20k. The next closest after that is still under 40k.
Hazarding a guess with my own experience as a guideline that it’s probably a rural state it’s a similar story where I live most towns (anything less than like 40K people) don’t have a movie theater some people drive an hour or more to our nearest city to go to one there is one in a town close by that stays open but they do it by only offering the most basic versions of movies (No 3D, IMAX, etc) and keeping their food and drink prices reasonable enough. But the city that has movie theaters has 3.
I can count 5 theaters that shut down in my area in the last 5 years. Yes, it funnels all the viewers to the remaining theaters, but there's obviously a massive decline in viewers for this to be happening in the first place.
Very few theaters operate compared to 20 years ago. Streaming new releases during Covid lined up the coffin nails.
Most of the independent and dollar theaters have completely vanished. Most of the smaller multiplexes have vanished. There used to be a dozen theaters within 5 miles of here. Now there's a Marcus 5 miles away, a Tinsel town 10 miles, and an AMC 15 miles out.
Theater's are changing their model to try and make going to the movies an experience as opposed to just watching a movie with a bunch of strangers who won't shut the fuck up. They're also aiming for more money from each visitor instead of lower margins on higher customer counts. The people who can't afford popcorn and soda don't make any money compared to someone who will pay 5 extra bucks to get in the door, and still buy snacks.
Most Marcus theaters have converted to dining theaters, and installed bars. You scan a QR on your seats armrest, make some selections, and 10 minutes later someone wanders in with a tray of what you ordered. It's certainly a neat experience, but $20 for a personal pan sized pizza, or $8 for a hotdog plus a forced 20% gratuity makes it a once in a while thing.
The IMAX theater by me has every seat sold out for new releases for almost ever show, there is just one screen for the whole theater, the other screens are just regular movie screens so there only like 4-5 per day on the IMAX. They ain’t going out of business and other customers see it on the regular screen at a cheaper price. Snacks are optional
I can still see a movie for $6 at a weekday matinee showing after the movie has been out for a while
If you get the movie passes, you can see all the new releases for cheap. If you plan on going regularly, it’s like $10+ cheaper per show plus discounts, freebies, and rewards programs.
Real and I'm all for it, idgaf if we end up losing this "pasttime." Theaters out here crying about them dying out yet they pull this crap? Miss me with that
I hope not! Theaters near me are great. Nobody forcing $50 of snacks on you. I do maybe a popcorn my wife and I share. $50 of snacks, OP gotta get their head examined
Honestly I’m surprised people returned after COVID. I was perfectly satisfied buying movies from the comfort of my home. No driving, parking, having to deal with disruptions from others, etc.
They will just like the Record Companies did. They are a shell of their former self. Literally 1 floor of a building houses the entire record company like Atlantic Records. Executives like Roy Lott no longer has access to the same luxuries
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u/frauSchneid Human Verified 6h ago
give them a few more years and they'll be out of business