Top 10 Reasons Movie Theaters May Be a Thing of the Past

Ah yes who doesn’t love the movies? A great experience nonetheless but they are in trouble. COVID-19 is causing chaos and Netflix and Disney+ entering the chat may swing people to stay at home even in a post COVID world rather than shell out the money to go to the movies again.
The Top Ten
1 Streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ are becoming more common

Let's be honest who doesn't have Netflix Disney+ or Hulu nowadays? It's pretty nice you can pay like $9-$16 dollars a month on Netflix for example depending on your subscription plan. That's like the same as a soda, popcorn and candy bar at a theater. And you get an entire library of movies, documentaries, and other original shows at your fingertips. Why pay 30 dollars to watch a movie once when you can pay half that and watch whatever you want whenever you want?

The only thing is the company that made the movie gets more money if it goes to a theater. Plus the overall environment of going to a theater is pretty cool in my opinion. Especially if it's a good movie.

2 More convenient to watch at home

If you watch a movie on Netflix you're in control you can pause at any time for bathroom breaks or to get a snack. So watching movies on the big screen is nice but there's no mercy if you have to go to the restroom hopefully you don't miss one of the good parts otherwise that's too bad.

Nah, it's louder and more atmospheric in the cinemas.

3 Harder to adapt in the midst of COVID-19

Yes, many historical changes have happened with every pandemic in the past. It's nothing major like us staying at home forever waiting for our mentality to go insane, but there will be some merges of stay at home order life and previous life. This will be one of those

The only movie theaters open in the midst of a once of a lifetime pandemic are drive-in theaters, but there aren't many films to watch.

4 Cheaper to watch at home

Like I said, a family of 4 may easily drop over 100 dollars to see a movie. Why do that when you could just make a bag of popcorn at home and have a movie night in the living room? Again why spend an average of 40-50 dollars to watch a movie for a family of 4? You could get Trolls World Tour for $20 on Amazon Prime as an example not hard to see how family friendly movies could opt for this route instead.

5 Theaters could get more expensive

As much as I hate to say it the ticket prices will only go up because fewer people are going to the movies the theaters need a profit somehow. Prices are gonna have to change one way or another. I have a feeling they'll go higher as an act of desperation to try and add a new experience to the mix with the likes of 3D and IMAX

I really don't understand this logic. If not many people are going to the theaters, won't high prices be an even bigger turnoff? It would be better using the risk vs. reward strategy by making tickets cheap

6 Movie tickets are expensive

Going to the movies, thanks to ballooning movie budgets and more expensive projection equipment, has skyrocketed in price. In 2015, the average movie ticket price in the US rose to an all-time high of $8.61. That's up $0.30 from 2013! That doesn't sound like a lot but it adds up over time. And in places like NYC or LA a general admission adult ticket is $15 and as high as $50 if you want to watch in IMAX or 3D. That's not even getting to the concession stands with popcorn and candy and a soda all totaling around 15 dollars. Which means a family of 4 is easily dropping 100 dollars at least to see a movie. Sure it's fun but is it really worth that?

7 Other people are irritating

Don't tell me you haven't been to a movie without hearing at least one screaming kid or someone kicking your chair or whatever the case may be someone will irritate the crap out of you. Again watching in the privacy of your own home eliminates that problem almost entirely

8 Lack of blockbuster movies

According to Business Insider The number of wide releases by the six major studios – Warner Bros, Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Universal – has also been on a downward trend since 2006. In 2017, they released just 79 movies, down 38% from 2006. Since 1995, only 2013 was lower. This Hurts because movie theaters kinda rely on those big hits and with the big 6 eating up companies left and right *looking at you Disney* there's less major releases from the major studios.

9 Theater gimmicks are losing their appeal

While 3D IMAX and Dolby sound are nice is it worth the higher price? Does it warrant that much of a difference to get a 4D XL smell spraying Virtual Reality experience?

10 Snacks are expensive

The only snacks I buy from the cinemas are popcorn. I mean who doesn't sneak snacks in from other supermarkets?

You can buy snacks and beverages and sneak them in.

The Contenders
11 The “event” mentality deters casual moviegoers

Since major franchises have large fanbases like Marvel, Star Wars, etc when the big movies come out there's a cultural desire to see them as soon as possible to avoid spoilers. Everyone wants to see the new Avengers movie on opening weekend as opposed to 2 weeks later. People will flock to the midnight showings, and it's impossible to ignore the marketing blitz, toy and merchandise tie-ins and internet buzz. A movie opening has become a major pop culture event. For that reason, audiences tend to flock to a movie on opening night. That creates problems for more casual moviegoers: instead of a relaxing movie, people now fight to get tickets to certain showings, rush to get good seating, and have to fight large crowds for everything from parking to going to the bathroom! For a good portion of the population, that crowd mentality becomes a major deterrent from going to see a new release.

12 In a movie theater, you can't pause or rewind the movie.

This is bad because it's if you have to go to the bathroom for example, then you can't pause the movie. You just have to go as quickly as possible and hope you don't miss a really good part.

13 A lot of piracy in the cinema

It's not piracy if you already payed for the ticket to see it.

14 Crying babies
15 Long and awkward lines
16 Kids throwing tantrums
17 Movies are added to streaming services only a few months later
BAdd New Item