I went to a local movie theater yesterday with my wife for this new Angel Studios movie Solo Mio with Kevin James. Movie was great but I could not get over how deserted the place was. We went to a 4:30 pm movie and got out at 6:15 pm but there was only about 10 of us in the theater and when leaving at 6:15 the place was still virtually deserted.

20-30 years ago this very same theater would be mobbed on a Saturday evening.

I can’t see how these places are even making it these days. How are they able to pay for the workers and keep the lights on with these low attendance numbers? I don’t get it and suspect the day when we see movie theaters go completely extinct is coming far sooner than we realize.

I give it 5 years or less at this rate

What are you guys seeing? Streaming has changed the landscape so much that I don’t think theaters are going to even be a thing in the future.

I think it goes back to being a large city thing/maybe only for certain movies - but ones which “need” a theater look terrible on phones so who knows?

I’ve only been to a theater a few times over the past 25 years or so; and then only when it was free (company team building).

I liked the large screen and big sound, but the home experience is sufficient. And can avoid the outrageous high ticket and snack prices, the rude patrons, the dirty seats and floors, etc.

Seems like there’s still a need for teenager date nights. But don’t see much patronage beyond that. That will probably dwindle in the absence of appealing content.

Don’t see theaters lasting another generation. What exists is the last of it.

I would go to a theater in Korea or Japan though. Different experience than here.

quote:

but the home experience is sufficient

I think this explains everything in a nutshell.

I think it's a combination of things. During the Covid hoopla people got used to not going out. Now, with shorter times between the theatrical release of a movie and when it appears on streaming services, a lot of people figure that between cost, inconvenience, sticky seats and rude patrons, going to a theater just isn't worth it. Especially with 95% of what comes out of Hollywood these days being complete crap.

When computer "games" become more fun than real life play, why leave the house?

Funny - we saw the same movie yesterday at 6:45 and it was 80% full. I agree that the movie was enjoyable, we both liked that it was "wholesome" which was a nice change.

I think a lot of it is just the quality of movies that have been produced. There have been very few movies in the past few years that I have really wanted to see on the big screen; Ford vs. Ferrari, Maverick, and Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny. Indiana Jones was a major disappointment.

Couple that with the fact that there is so much more content available online and the big theaters are definitely in decline.

I've been averaging 2 movies a year for the last decade. There was a time growing up where I might have gone 20 to 25 times a year. My home theater setup is pretty good, but I don't watch that many movies at home either.

Why on Earth would I leave the comfort of my home?

No jerkwads with cell phones, free snacks, free admission, comfy seats, no gum on the floor, pause it for potty breaks. Even if I have to "rent" a movie, it's $5 vs. $20 and probably more, haven't been to a movie in decades.

Not the Newest and Latest, but most if not all of them will get to streaming sooner rather than later.

I don't have a home theater so I still enjoy movies at the theater for the immersive experience. I actually like that theaters are rarely crowded as the more people you have the higher the likelihood that an inconsiderate douchebag will be one of them.

Like the OP, I wonder how long these empty gigantic buildings will remain in business. In addiiton to my observation of empty theaters there has also been two canary in the coal mine events recently:

Blue Bloods actress Jennifer Esposito revealed she lost her home after mortgaging it to finance her directorial debut film, Fresh Kills. It's insanely expensive to make a movie now and the profits are infrequently there.

The murder of Rob Reiner caused me to look into his bio. What jumped out at me that despite all of his 1980s and 1990s hit movies, he was 1 for 10 in making a profit since 2010 and the one "success" was only $7.4M. He was 3 for 13 if the timeline extended to 2000.

Both of the above prompted me to have Gemini AI look at the profitable movies in 2025 and it was only 38%.

My biggest beef right now is it's a rarity Hollyweird releases a movie I actually want to see and it's an even smaller subset I'm willing to see in a theater. In summer '22, I saw Top Gun Maverick 3 times while it was in the theater, and the next movie I saw in a theater was Dec '25 (i.e. the movie about the Neil Diamond tribute duo). To be fair, Song Sung Blue would've been fine at home on my TV with my sound bar, but Dad was visiting for the holidays and is a big Neil Diamond fan.

My second biggest beef right now is the egomaniac directors refuse to edit a film to a reasonable length, and there is no intermission either. Expensive movie tickets and overpriced food/beverages so no thanks on having to miss part of the movie to take a leak. James Cameron is the epitome of this phenomenon with his Avatar series. I watched the original 2 hr 42 min bladder buster in a theater, but refused to go see the 3 hr 12 min and 3 hr 15 min bladder busters. On top of that, he's an absolute douche bag in interviews when asked about his thoughts on the feedback that his movies are too long.

We saw "Melania" in the local theater last Sunday. 6:30 showing. $12 each for senior tickets. Very nice plush power recliner seats (heated.) If you stay away from the $12 popcorn and $7 cokes, its not too bad.

If there was anything worth watching, we might go a little more often

quote:

Originally posted by SigLaw:
Funny - we saw the same movie yesterday at 6:45 and it was 80% full. I agree that the movie was enjoyable, we both liked that it was "wholesome" which was a nice change.

One of you had temperatures with a wind chill of 5 to 10 below and the other one was in Arizona. IMO this explains most of it.

The industry has experienced a significant decline, with some experts predicting the traditional business model may not remain viable within 15 to 20 years. Theatres will likely shrink, focusing on blockbusters and premium experiences like concerts, rather than vanishing entirely. Netflix and similar streaming services haven’t helped..

quote:

Originally posted by CQB60:
Netflix and similar streaming services haven’t helped..

Netflix was revolutionary in bucking the trend of paying exhorbitant amounts for the latest blockbuster. Their business model is a combo of original content and cost-efficient licensing of old movies.

I used to love going to movies. I'm still paying for the Cinemark club.

But the theaters won't do anything about the negative experience. They won't kick people out that disrupt. They won't do anything about phone usage during the movie. And I'm over paying 15$ for popcorn.

There's almost no movies that I'm willing to pay $60 to see. The writing is on the wall for me. I might go once or twice a year now. I mainly just use my cinemark credits when the kids want to go see something. I buy their tickets.

I miss going to movie theaters. Unlike many here, I have rarely had assholes and disruptions during the times I have been. Maybe because a lot of my viewings have been at IMAX showings, which charged a lot of bucks at the time. For me, the home theater experience pales in comparison to a really nice theater, but for me, the 4K, Super-Duper sound setups really don't impress me because most of the movies I watch at home are older films, monaural sound, and older 35mm camera technology. I value content over form, I'd rather watch a beat up 16mm print of Citizen Kane or The Maltese Falcon than a Marvel DeadpoolAvengers movie with the latest tech.

But the the one primary reason I have stopped going to the theater is the poor output of quality films, 99% of it I have zero interest in. Plus I dislike digital cinema projection, I still prefer old fashioned film projection. The last great theater experience was when we saw Oppenheimer in IMAX film (not digital).

It depends how long it takes for theaters to reset and have multiple IMAX like screens with more than one movie playing on them. RomComs and low budgets dramas are pretty much done, but people will show up to an event movie if it's a good one. A lot of times if I'm interested in a movie, it'll have an IMAX release of one or two weeks which leaves me in a bind to either clear time in my schedule or wait for 4K disc.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I can’t see how these places are even making it these days. How are they able to pay for the workers and keep the lights on with these low attendance numbers? I don’t get it and suspect the day when we see movie theaters go completely extinct is coming far sooner than we realize.

The big budget savings for theaters was cutting out projectionist. It was a a huge part of their budget as most projectionist were unionized...get paid the same for running a 35mm movie as running a Super 8mm in a porn house.

Movies are now run on continuous reels and since it is a "push button" operation, theaters have a "manager" do it. Their big money maker is still the concessions bar. When I worked in a movie theater, but in the early 70s, the profit margin on popcorn was something like 300-400%

It’ll be like drive-ins