What Movie Theaters Can Learn from Theme Parks to Survive

Oh SO agree on how a great audience makes a movie even better. I do still plan on seeing Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters and many others as it just isn't the same as seeing it on screen. Scores of movies (say, Tangled) that I caught on TV and moaning "Man, this would have been great in a theater."

I know, the risks and some sniffing too expensive and easier at home but that robs a key experience that makes movies so special.

Hopefully this pandemic encourages movie theaters to improve their services, but a key component to doing that is discouraging rude behaviors and "kindly escorting" disruptive customers from the theater. Also, the high price of a movie ticket feels a little bit like a gamble. There are soooo many bad movies out there these days.

I now pretty much only go see movies at a theater to avoid my co-workers spoiling it for me at lunchtime. (except for The Rise of Skywalker; I laughed at the plot leaks online and they all turned out to be true). Also it's a really poor value for entertainment time-wise. For what it costs for a family of four to go to a movie on a weekly basis I could just spend that money on APs to any of the local Orlando parks.

I agree there is nothing like the full movie theater experience. That is why I am glad the the Courts repealed the prohibition on Studios owning movie theaters. Thanks to that decision and the fact that independent theaters have shown they can be profitable by showing old and cult movies, theaters can continue if run correctly. Disney should buy AMC, it's market cap is less than 500 million. They can show their first run movies, cult snd old movies at midnight on Friday's and Saturday's, Disney Classics on select weekend afternoon and of course movies from other studios. We need the big screen with great sound. The movies need the box office to produce movies with huge budgets like Endgame. I just don't see how the theaters can survive until 2022 without the help from the studios. AMC needs money and have a stock offering coming but even with that they are not sure they will survive. Disney should just use an all stock offer and include a requirement that the debt holders agree to accept stock for the debt. That would allow AMC to survive and be profitable. I do not want to see AMC fail and I do not want to see the end of the theater model.

I almost got a Smithsonian membership this year because there going to be so many movies filmed in IMAX (Bond, Wonder Woman, Top Gun, Tenet, Dune). It be terrible to only be able to see these on the small screen and they’d end up one of the last Hollywood epics made.

We usually avoid the corporate chains because I go to the movies A LOT and the mark ups are so much higher, unless there’s something like 1917 that I need to see in Dolby Atmos.

Actually 2 of your points are some of the reasons people don't go to cinemas.

Full service food - this can be really annoying having people come in with torches to serve food to people in the middle of a film. If the food is served before the film and brought in then it just ads another layer of issues.

The crowd - a crowd yelling out things (good or bad) can be even worse, you miss dialogue, or whole scenes when people carry on like buffoons in a film. Yes it can be great, a cheer wih cap and the hammer at my session was great because it echoed my sentiments of the film and let's be honest, Endgame was the epitome of popcorn film. but when you are trying to watch something else (tenet) and some nitwits explain the twist everyone just saw (and if you were paying attention saw coming a mile away) that makes the experience a lot worse.

The others are all good points, but the investment against the return is unlikely. You want better seats, that money is going to come from ticket prices or ad revenue, it is that simple and the more the cinemas charge, the less likely people are going to pay it.

I know what you're thinking, without the better seats etc no-one will go... and you're right, but without the guarantee of people going, they aren't going to invest.

I just don't see a business plan or template where movie theaters can survive. They are a relic of a form of entertainment that is no longer profitable. I think small theaters and chains that integrate the movie-going experience with add-ons (like Alamo Drafthouse) can probably be nimble enough to hang on, but they're facing an uphill climb because of the power of the studios that will continue to push their IP into their own streaming services and expect exhibitors to hand over nearly 100% of the box office. The big chains are pretty much toast, because they are simply too large to adapt to an ever-changing market. Their real estate liabilities alone will be enough to put them under as so much of the expansion within the industry over the past @10 years has been in putting bigger and bigger multiplexes into more expensive and affluent neighborhoods. The AMCs and Regals over the world would have to jettison over half of their locations just to break even, which undermines their primary financial strategy of (over)saturation.

Let's face it, the movie-going experience just isn't that great - and this is coming from someone who regularly went to 1-3 movies EVERY SINGLE WEEK for well over 15 years. In turn, the home viewing experience continues to improve to the point where if you absolutely need to watch something on a "big" screen (over 15 feet tall), you can buy the equipment to put one in your back yard for <$1,000. There is something to be said about the communal experience of watching a movie in a crowded theater on opening night (or at a preview screening), but that experience is increasingly losing its luster with rude behavior and the infinite distractions of our always-connected world (along with an undetectable, microscopic contagion).

The sad thing is that even though I personally have a high end home theater setup (with recliners, Dolby surround, popcorn machine, and 4K TV), I just don't have the desire to sit down and watch a movie very often when given a choice. The beauty of going to a theater was that it was an event/date, while watching at home has a level of flexibility that allows for too many interventions to interrupt or usurp a movie. What's worse is that we still have the opportunity to watch movie screenings by live streaming them from home (as we used to in theaters prior to their official release), but find ourselves distracted by life or lack of desire to sit down and watch the film, particularly one that is slow or sedate. It also doesn't help when many of these movies are set to debut on a streaming service shortly after the screening, so the justification to sit and watch the movie during the screening time is gone.

I don't know what the solution is, but Hollywood better come up with something fast, because the fate of the entertainment industry is hanging in the balance.

Still supporting my movie theaters. As I run errands or shopping I run in and buy a take home bag of popcorn. Also, I have purchased gift cards for friends that are low risk and can attend movies.

I will be returning to the movie theater experience as soon as possible.

To my knowledge, our Alamo draft house already shuttered permanently although it was brand new.

The front row seats can go,

I would say:

Commercials have to stay. They provide a needed revenue stream, they are probably getting less for the media right now.

Studios can certainly help. They were getting 50% of the take, they could a 35% stake and help Theaters weather through it.

If theaters fail, you are going to see a non-traditional moving going experience and people seeking this form of entertainment will pay premiums for small scale budget and independent Cinema.

There is a double edge sword, you don't kill movie houses and then continue to make films with $250 million dollar budgets. Those days would be gone as well.