Attendance is important because theaters need butts in seats, not to watch movies. For all they care, you can bring air horns to the Paddington 2 screening. Increasingly, theaters need you to show up and buy snacks and beer, or they’re in serious trouble.
This is similar in my mind to the hotel and hospitality industry, if not one is there to experience it, then it goes as a loss. You will never get that night back, that room that went empty or that seat that no one sat in.
Netflix, of course, has created a phenomenon with Stranger Things, a sci-fi telenovel that was not subject to any censorship, and which patrons could watch for only $10—the price of a single movie ticket (or less).
One of my favorite shows and the thing that really got me into Netflix Originals which is exactly what they were hoping for. Start with a bang and get people hooked.
Plus no commercials
first-run movies into living rooms has been around for a while now,
We are close to this, while I couldn't see the newest Star Wars movie the day it is released to theaters from the comfort of my own living room, hundreds of movies everyday are posted directly to streaming platforms without ever seeing a large screen theater.
There’s also the example of Disney’s 2013 remake of “The Lone Ranger,” which had a $225 million budget but failed to crack $90 million at the domestic box office, likely because the original film was made in the 1950s.
An example of this being untrue however is A Star Is Born, it was so well casted with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga that people wanted to see it even if for only that reason. However on the other side of this Disney makes remakes all the time, including the recent Dumbo Movie and movies like the Jungle book that more or less "flopped" in the theaters for lack of engagement from audiences.
“You’re going to end up with fewer theaters, bigger theaters with a lot of nice things. Going to the movies will cost 50 bucks or 100 or 150 bucks, like what Broadway costs today, or a football game. It’ll be an expensive thing. … (The movies) will sit in the theaters for a year, like a Broadway show does. That will be called the ‘movie’ business.”
The industry if ever were to reach this point, in my opinion would be extremely far away, this just doesn't seem like something that would happen in my lifetime, it is hard enough for me to comprehend spending a ton of money to see Hamilton on broadway when I can see A Christmas story at the Winter Garden Theater for a fraction of the price. Which to me is the equivalent to seeing a major movie in the theaters when it first comes out or a slightly older movie on a smaller screen (my television).
Optimists maintain that revenues are still growing.
A big reason why Hollywood is stuck in the past, some still can't let go and open up to realize
Younger audiences are becoming more interested in streamable content that is accessible on their iPhones or tablets. They’ll still turn up at the multiplexes to see the Avengers save the world or watch Han Solo slide behind the wheel of the Millennium Falcon, but despite a few massive blockbusters, the zeitgeist continues to shift from the big to the small screen.
I have to agree, I can't remember the last time I went to a movie just to go to the movies, unless this is supposedly going to be the movie of the year, like A Star is Born, or something that is a part of an already established empire, like Black Panther, I am less (almost not at all) likely to go out of my way, pay the higher ticket prices (which are ever increasing) to see a movie that "might not even be that good"
paradigm
a typical example or pattern of something; a model.
releasing movies in the home within weeks of their theatrical debut
We seemed to have skipped this step, by releasing movie directly to the home (like with Netflix originals) we are able to cut out the expensive costs of theater releases and create lower budget films that still pack a punch.