For the longest time, the only way to see a newly released film was at the local cinema. Every Friday, a series of new films would get released to the movie theater. This preordained slate was what the discerning American public had to choose from. Sure, video stores—like Video 21 or Kim’s Video and chains like Blockbuster or Movie Gallery—gave consumers many options for at-home viewing, assuming one was willing to wait for home video. There were also brick-and-mortar shops where consumers could buy movies for themselves. Still, the consistently fruitful option for catching the hot new film would be whatever was playing at your local movie theater.

However, streaming services seemed inevitable with the rise of the internet and the proliferation of high-speed data. With the death of traditional cable TV and video rental stores and the rising costs associated with seeing a movie in the cinema, many have turned to the convenience of streaming services. Today, we will examine why audiences have stepped away from the theater in favor of a cinema based on what the streaming algorithm suggests.

1. Cost

Woman with money showing thumbs down — Photo Credit: Shutterstock.

Much has been made of the rising cost of movie theater attendance. The price of a standard admission ticket—this doesn’t include premium houses such as IMAX or RealD 3D—is $12.50. Couple this with the obscene markup on food and drinks in the theater, and it’s easy to see why the average consumer may be deterred from making a trek to the cinema. For the cost of a single ticket, a family of four could all watch the same movie if using services such as Netflix or Max.

2. Convenience

Rather than having to plan your day around a trip to the theater, a film on streaming sits in the cloud for whenever you’re ready to watch it. No more checking showtime information or driving to your local movie theater. Some towns don’t even have the luxury of having a movie theater! You can download any streaming service, pop some popcorn, throw on some pajamas, kick back, and enjoy an evening of great cinema! All of this and more from the comfort of your own home!

3. Selection

Unless you’re living in a major city, the movie theaters in your town are relegated to whatever new movie is playing in a given week. When selecting a film on a streaming service, you can choose from hundreds of movies based on whatever a given service is streaming. Though this, too, can be limited to whatever’s streaming, having access to multiple services gives one even more freedom of choice.

4. Audiences

The audience will always be a factor when watching a film in the theater. Depending on the crowd or the movie, the audience can be extremely distracting and potentially ruin the viewing experience. If one’s watching a film at home, the audience is never a consideration, making the home viewing experience much more enticing.

5. Cell Phones

When you go to watch a film in the theater, a common issue that may arise is the people around you using their cell phones during the film. Suppose one were to stay home and watch a movie. In that case, the likelihood of cell phone usage during the film decreases significantly—assuming you’re not using your phone during the movie. Viewing a movie at home guarantees that the audience around you will not serve as a distraction.

6. Cleanliness

One of the worst parts of the movie theater experience is the mess. Walking around a given auditorium—or, in rare instances, the lobby—reveals a smorgasbord of popcorn, soda, candy, and whatever other trash the theater gods have punished us with today. When viewing a film at home, one does not need to worry about whether one’s shoe will get stuck in a puddle of congealed soda pop or whether popcorn grease will stain one’s clothes.

7. Service-Exclusive Content

With access to streaming services such as Prime Video or Netflix, a viewer can access a range of films only available on those streaming services and not in theaters. This could be another incentive for someone to stay in and watch a movie rather than choosing to go out and catch a film at their local cinema. Who wouldn’t want to stay home and see the latest Netflix film? You can’t watch it anywhere else!

8. Ease of Opportunity for Breaks

If you are watching a film in the theater, there isn’t ever a good opportunity to get up and use the restroom. If you watch a movie on a streaming service, however, you can get up and go to the bathroom whenever you see fit. You no longer have to worry about whether or not you will miss the movie if you get up and go to the restroom. Just hit pause, use the restroom, and finish the film when you return!

9. New Movies Releasing At the Same Time

A recent innovation to the streaming model due to the COVID-19 pandemic is popularizing day-and-date releases of major tentpole films in theaters and on streaming. Warner Brothers explicitly embraced this model, releasing every single one of their 2021 theatrical releases in theaters and on Max the same day. Studios are starting to walk this back a bit in favor of a longer gap between a film’s theatrical window and the same film’s release on streaming in recent years. However, this gap is shorter than ever, incentivizing people to avoid the theater in favor of waiting for a streaming release.

10. Audio/Video Quality

With a lack of care on the part of movie theater owners regarding film presentation and advancements in A/V technology for home media, there’s never been a worse time to see a movie presented at the cinema. With the switch from film projection to DCPs in movie theaters, theater employees are getting lazy and never replacing the bulbs in movie theater projectors. This means that any home theater set-up worth its salt can not only keep up with the latest in movie theater tech but can, perhaps, surpass it in terms of output quality. Getting an in-theater experience at home further incentivizes people to stay in and watch movies from their homes.

For everything here and then, audiences seem to avoid the theater. Will theaters ever make a comeback? It’s a legitimate question, though the answer here is uncertain. Theaters have tried adapting to the public’s tastes—installing recliners in theater seats, reserved seating so that people do not have to worry about seating, and using contactless ordering for concessions—but nothing seems to be doing the trick. To revisit the previous question, only one conclusion seems likely. Though theaters may never make a complete comeback, the theater shall always remain a beacon for the film lovers within us all. When those lights go down, the collective dream begins.

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