Movie theaters first started as storefronts before growing to become grand exhibitions for motion pictures.
Two guys, William Rock and Walter Wainwright, had the original idea to let the public see films at a designated place. It first started with only one or two films per shop, and in 1896 the first theater was born.
“I’ve made so many memories in movie theaters with my friends,” freshman Hayoung Lee said. “I actually couldn’t imagine it going away.”
Over the years, people have grown to love and use movie theaters as a place to meet up with friends and family. Going to a movie theater creates memories and new relationships.
But nowadays, more and more movie theaters are going out of business. Most recently, the XD Theater in the San Francisco Westfield Mall closed. In just the past five years, two local movie theaters, Century Blackhawk Plaza and Regal Crow Canyon, shut their doors.
The movie theater business is overshadowed because of the growing number of streaming services and the short attention span of younger generations.
Starting with the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the movie theater industry has struggled due to business slowing down. Workers started to get laid off and the foundation of theaters started to crumble. Due to these effects, movie theaters had to close, which heavily affected their profits.
“I feel like COVID really shrunk down the business, and this struggle is a real thing,” sophomore Koda Puth said.
Regal Movie Theaters, a popular cinema group, reported its profit decreased by almost 67%, or $1.6 billion, during the first six months of 2020, according to a 2020 article published by CBS News.
The article quoted people in the film industry about their thoughts on the business, and Cineworld, a known theater chain, indicated there was no certainty about the future impact of COVID-19 on the group.
These comments were made back in 2020. In 2024, about a dozen theaters and more than 60 screens have been shut down in the Bay Area alone.
The American theater industry lost 2,638 screens between 2022 and 2023, the worst industry slump in the last 30 years, according to Capital News Service (CNS) with the University of Maryland.
CNS reported that movie ticket sales have dropped nearly 35% over the past six years, plunging from about 1.2 billion tickets solid in 2019 to 798 million in 2024.
“I’ve seen a bunch of theaters closing down after COVID,” freshman Elliot Ahn said. “It’s [kind of] sad.”
To contribute to the growing drop in moviegoers there is also an increase in streaming services that can provide convenience to the watchers’ needs and wants. They offer all of the movies in the comfort of their own homes, and for a lot cheaper.
“My favorite thing about watching movies at home is that I can be as loud and as comfortable without worrying about another person,” freshman Sophie Park said.
Theaters generally charge $10-$20 per ticket, and that doesn’t include jacked up concession costs. Conversely, streaming apps charge around $6-$20 a month, about the same price for two movie tickets.
“The movie theater snacks are way too expensive for me to get, and sneaking them in takes too much energy,” junior Joshua Woo said.
Now, in this generation, electronics such as phones, iPads, and computers offer apps like TikTok and Instagram, which are proven to shorten a person’s attention span due to the shorter videos.
This can affect people who come in to watch a movie at the theater, but can’t sit through it without looking at their phones.
Another contributing factor to the decline of movie theaters is the growing number of bigger theater chains. Theaters that are not part of major chains face greater struggles maintaining business.
All of these reasons could be the explanation for the decline of the movie theater industry. But when the theaters go away, so will the core memories and enjoyable experiences of many people over the years.
“I don’t think movie theaters are going to go away, but if it does, I feel like it’s a memory that’s also leaving,” freshman Justin Cabral said.
