A trip to the mall in the past five or so years is a thing of sadness. There’s what used to be the Gap, there’s what used to be Sports Authority, and, after years of walking in that store and being amazed it had not yet found the honor to die, there’s what used to be Sears.
Gone and going are the glory days of shopping at the mall as consumers have moved further and further towards the all-powerful, all-perfect being of internet shopping. For the most part, shopping (save for grocery shopping, though that too is changing) is done online. Glory be to the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: Amazon Prime.
Going to the mall is weird. Yet, can anything beat the tangibleness of it? Seeing and touching a product before deciding whether or not to buy it? Then again, how can that compare to the unlimited, overwhelming options available on the internet?
Malls are quickly becoming relics of the past — and the same might be happening with movie theaters.
Restrictions from the pandemic are causing unprecedented, perhaps life ending, damage to movie theaters and could potentially mean the death of the movie theater experience as a whole. They just might become the malls of the future.
AMC, the largest theater company in the United States, is on the verge of bankruptcy. Regal Cinemas, the second largest US theater company, has temporarily shut down all of its theaters across the US.
Meanwhile, streaming services have been doing better and better. It used to be that there were the local channels. Then it was cable. Then it was satellite. Then it was Netflix. Then it was Netflix and Hulu. Now its cable, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, HBO, Disney + and a million others. Choices galore, pick your poison.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Chapek discussed how the company, while not completely moving away from movie screenings, was nonetheless going to place its focus on streaming moving forward. This is the company that brought us the (somehow) beloved Avengers, Black Panther, and modern Star Wars films. As of August 2020, Disney + had over 60.5 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, no blockbuster film is certain for a theater release by Thanksgiving and theaters are taking massive economic hits. According to CNBC, the US and Canadian domestic box office has garnered $2.05 billion this year, compared to the $11.4 billion in ticket sales in 2019. It is clear that streaming, like online shopping, is beating out watching a movie in theaters.
This is a sad, sad thing. There’s nothing like watching a movie at the theater. Sure, there’s something nice about being in the comfort of home where shoes are optional and the fridge is just a few steps over. Even glossing over the power and beauty of theater screens and speakers, what makes the cinema such an experience is that it is in between worlds.
It is modern, yet, it is one of the few communal spaces left where attention is singular and focused. It is a sin to use a phone in a theater. While it does happen, there is essentially no texting, Snapchatting, or checking Facebook in the theater. It is a place that is a relic of the pre-internet era.
Sure, as soon as those two or so hours are up, the phones are unlocked. But for those two hours it is only the viewer and a story unfolding over an imposing screen. If movie theaters are to die, then something rare has been lost, maybe forever.
