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Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Let's Go to the Movies! [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-08
Every time I’m driving south on 101 in Marin, my eyes automatically look to the right at the marquis for the huge once popular Tamalpais Theater to see what’s playing, even though the theater never again opened its doors again after Covid. It remained one of the only theaters in the county able to survive the multiplex movement because its huge screen and great sound system always attracted blockbuster films.
The sign alongside 1010 has said “Closed” since 2020.
In nearby Fairfax, a multiplex that once attracted a respectable number of movie goers to show films during daytime throughout the week, reopened well over a year ago, but the parking lot is always almost empty on weekdays. They screen four films daily. The other day there were only two cars in the parking lot at 2:30 pm.
According to CNBC, since 2019, the number of total screens in the U.S. have decreased by around 3,000 to just under 40,000. Yet Forbes reports that 62% of American adults are comfortable going to a movie theater, compared to a low of 12% who were comfortable doing so in May 2020.
“Think about retail out there in general, it’s repositioning itself, you don’t have as many of the same branded stores in the marketplace,” said Rolando Rodriguez, chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “Consumers are a lot more selective, and I think that for the economics that are necessary, you’re not going to see these 30-plexes anymore.”
Instead, movie complexes are evolving, improving seating, sound, and picture quality, offering more enticing snacks, and showing different types of programming. It’s not unusual today for a theater to offer wine and delicious desserts along with the more traditional movie snacks.
The goal is to get people back in the habit of heading out to the cinema on Friday or Saturday nights.
One chain recently produced an evening called “pajamas and popcorn,” where customers paid $5 admission and received a free popcorn if they came in their nightclothes.
In a CNET story Movie Theaters Didn't Die, but They'll Never Be the Same Again, Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese said in an industry report that moviegoers have"repeatedly shown that they are willing to return to theaters for quality content and altogether skip any content that is not deemed theater-worthy,"
Big budget sequels and horror films with large marketing campaigns have attracted huge numbers of people back to the theaters: movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jurassic World Dominion, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water have all made huge profits.
But to remain sustainable, movie theaters are going to have to innovate, entertaining ideas like offering private screening rooms or “kinetic seats that tilt, spin, and rumble, depending on what's happening on the screen. Imagine if movie theaters embraced this. Car chases, action sequences, or even train journeys in films could really be brought to life.” Another idea is renting out rooms in theaters for gaming parties in which customers can use big screens to compete in video games.
I haven’t returned to the movies since Covid, at first because it just didn’t feel safe but honestly, I’ve yet to see an advertisement for a movie I have any desire to see.
Have you gone back to the movies since Covid? If so, are you inspired by the quality of the films being shown? Do you think streaming movies at home meets your entertainment needs?
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