Movies are an integral part of today’s entertainment world. They make us laugh, cry, cheer, and experience the spectrum of human emotion. Like anything, movies and the movie going experience have changed a lot over the years. So we wanted to look back 100 years ago and see how far movies have come. Additionally, we’ll also look at today’s movie landscape and see what it can tell us about the future of the movie industry.
First let’s rewind; the year is 1926-Calvin Coolidge was president of the United States, the depression hadn’t hit yet, and the average movie ticket cost 25 cents. Most theaters in 1926 only had one screen and only played silent movies with live music to enhance the experience, but were only a year away from the release of The Jazz Singer, the first feature length movie with synchronized dialogue. The projectors in these theaters were usually big and bulky and used the iconic big wheels of footage to project the images onto the screen. People usually went to the theater more than once per week. Since the first movie theaters started showing up in the early 1900s, they were still a relatively new experience for the general public and it was very novel at the time to see this new technology. It felt revolutionary.
What were once single screen theaters are now 20+ screen AMC theaters with gigantic IMAX screens and Dolby Atmos sound systems. Production companies now have access to highly advanced filmmaking techniques like CGI and other special effects, advanced camera placement and movement technology, and highly detailed editing processes that help the movie going public fully immerse themselves in the experience. However, there have been a lot of negative changes to the movie going experience. According to Cinemark, the average movie ticket cost in the U.S for 2025 was $16.08, a far cry from the 25 cents from 100 years ago.
According to a poll conducted by Gallup in 2022, US adults saw an average of 1.4 movies in a theater over the past 12 months and that 61% of Americans had not been to the movie theater in the past year.
In the past decade or so movie theater attendance has dropped. Going to see a movie isn’t much of a draw anymore. It’s expensive, and many will just wait until it comes out for streaming in a few months. Zach Isaac, a senior, said that “going to the movies was a big deal” but now it just isn’t. With the rise of streaming this decade, films have become much more accessible, anyone can find any movie they want and have complete control over where and how they view it. As a result the cost and effort required to go out feels unnecessary.
This brings up the question: what could bring audiences back? Mr. Sargent said that going “should feel like more of an experience.” He explained that they should show more unique films comparing it to going to a Barnes and Nobles versus a niche bookstore. Additionally, the development of viewing technology like IMAX to make it a catered experience that people can’t have at home, like seeing a live concert compared to listening to music at home. Zach Isaac explained his idea to make theaters more like restaurants since according to him “most eat when watching movies [anyway].” Movie theaters need to continue evolving if they are going to thrive.
In 2023 we saw Barbenheimer, a trend of people doing a Barbie Oppenheimer double feature. There was also the trend of wearing suits to go see Minions, or watching a Minecraft movie and yelling at the screen. Movies can feel big, but how can that be done without relying on trends?
There is no shortage of phenomenal films and there never will be. Last year we saw movies such as Sinners, Weapons, One Battle After Another, and dozens and dozens more; the issue is getting people to watch them. Unfortunately without that revenue from movie theaters a lot of great art won’t get made. Matt Damon famously outlined in a Hot Ones interview how DVDs were a massive saving grace in Hollywood because it gave movies a chance to make back some money and cult classics could over time become huge successes, movies like Fight Club, Fantastic Mr Fox, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Streaming doesn’t do this; it’s impossible to give a dollar value to the amount of streams a movie gets on Netflix.
Big Studios rely on large budget movies that must turn a profit, which means studio interference and of course, sequels. 2025 saw the release of Mickey 17 a sci-fi epic directed by Academy Award winning director Bong Joon Ho and starring Robert Pattinson. This movie reportedly cost around 100 million dollars to produce, and with marketing that can be 10s of millions more or even double the production costs. Mickey 17 only made reportedly around 130 million dollars which means that it didn’t profit which is unfortunate because the movie was great. For a production company to take such a big swing and miss is bad because it means they aren’t going to take more big swings, and great original big budget movies won’t be made and we’ll continue to see an endless parade of sequels and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.
At the end of 2023 Godzilla Minus One came out. It was a challenging, emotional, and dramatic character-driven monster movie going back to its roots in Japan as a powerful allegory for the horrors of war, specifically WW2’s effects on Japan’s citizens. It made around 50 million dollars in the USA, nothing to scoff at; however, in early 2024 Godzilla x Kong, a fun popcorn movie but really nothing more, made almost 200 million dollars in the US.
General audiences are less willing to take risks at the theater. If someone is going to spend the time and money to go see a movie they want something they know they’ll at least somewhat enjoy, which in part explains the growing notion that there are more unoriginal projects, not because there are, but because they dominate what people are going to see.
Going to the theater is important. Sinners was specifically filmed to be seen on the big screen and I wish I did because I was blown away by that movie watching on my laptop, and I can only imagine seeing it how it was supposed to be.
In the fall I watched Wake Up Dead Man. I went to a small theater in Salem because my local AMC wasn’t showing it due to the limited release it had, because it was produced by Netflix. Watching that movie with friends surrounded by people who cared about the movie, experiencing the twists and turns, the highs and lows, the pure artistry of that movie was a magical experience. It wouldn’t have been the same at home and I know that because the second Knives Out was only released on streaming and watching it was not, and could never be the same experience.
Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix, wants to do away with the theater experience claiming it’s “outdated”. With Netflix looking to possibly acquire WB that may mean more limited releases which would be detrimental to the culture of the cinema. Already I can only imagine what it could’ve been like going out to watch a critically acclaimed Netflix movie like Frankenstein or the smash hit Kpop Demon Hunters which broke countless records but didn’t make the money it could’ve because of its limited release.
Streaming isn’t going anywhere, with the consolidation of companies like Hulu and Disney or HBO on Prime, I can only imagine them getting bigger and bigger. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t or shouldn’t be a place for movie theaters.
I’d like to end with a quote from Nicole Kidman, “We need [this], all of us, that indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim. And we go somewhere we’ve never been before; not just entertained, but somehow reborn. Together. Dazzling images, on a huge silver screen. Sounds that I can feel. Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place likе this. Our heroes feel like thе best part of us, and stories feel perfect and powerful. Because here, they are.”
Going to the movies is important, and it needs to continue evolving like it has in the past 100 years in order to survive today’s media landscape.
