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A Love for the Silver Screen: An Ode to Movie Theaters in the Digital Age

Writer's picture: Summer WrennSummer Wrenn

By Summer Wrenn


If you had a childhood anything like mine and grew up in a small town with limited things to do, then you were also probably used to resorting to the same three hangout options: driving around, getting food/shopping, or going to the movies. Driving around could get repetitive, food and shopping sometimes feel like a waste of money, but there was never a moment that I wasn’t willing to drop a dime on a movie ticket.


Some of my most fond childhood memories include visits to the movie theater. In some, I’m with my parents, hoping not to be surprised by an awkward love scene. In others, I appear to be a pregnant child with a large stomach that is actually just a three-pound bag of candy I’m sneaking in under my jacket.


Although I can appreciate the comfort of watching a movie from home, there is something special about watching a movie the way it was intended to be watched in a dark room with enhanced sound. Unlike a movie on your laptop or TV at home, there is no remote, no button to hit pause. I’ve found comfort in this required undivided attention, which gives me an escape from the outside world, even if for two hours. Throughout every visit, I never fail to be wowed by the magic of the movie theater.


Socially, the movie theater is also an incredibly unique space. In what other circumstance would you be sitting in a room with so many people so different from yourself? You could be sitting next to a doctor, two rows down from a mechanic, five rows away from a mother bringing her children to experience their first movie; your town’s mayor could even be in row eight.


Not only is this diversity in people so unique, but the fact that, despite whatever social, ethnic, or personal differences you may have, you are all sharing a laugh, a cry, anxiousness, frustration, or whatever emotion the film causes you to feel. In my opinion, the most beautiful power of the movie theater is the power to unite. 


In the past few years, we’ve seen this power be threatened by the COVID pandemic. 2020 saw a 26% decline in physical entertainment revenue from the year prior. Large theater chains and indie movie theaters alike were forced to close their doors amidst calls to stay inside and avoid places of gathering. It was also the driving force in studies showing that 61% of Americans did not go to the movies in 2021.


2020 was a hard year for a plethora of reasons, but not being able to enjoy the movie theater experience was a big loss for me, personally. I, along with the rest of the world, quickly had to adapt to watching movies at home. Simultaneously, these at-home viewing habits gave rise to the industry giant we know today: streaming services. 


With a 33% increase in the digital home entertainment market in 2021, the rise of the streaming service industry has not faltered, being that 83% of Americans are currently paying for video-on-demand subscription services. Being one of these 83% myself, it’s hard not to deny all of the benefits that streaming services offer. They’re convenient, they constantly switch out content, they contain a collection of media ranging in age and genre, and provide something movie theaters do not: television.


I can appreciate a good Netflix, Hulu, or Max binge moment, but I find it important to see the challenges these companies bring to a decades-old social tradition of visiting the theater. In a time where the world has never been so politically divisive, I think it’s important to surround yourself and share pure entertainment with others unlike yourself. 


In the Summer of 2023, I witnessed this opportunity in full force. If you stepped foot in the movie theater any time after July, you were likely met with a swarm of hot pink or grungy dark outfits. Barbenheimer (the same-day release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer) was a moment of entertainment unity that brought together the likes of Christopher Nolan fans and young Barbie toy admirers. Having completed the five-hour movie marathon in one day myself, I couldn’t help but feel joy at the sense of excitement in the movie theater lobby. 


People who had never met each other were discussing their favorite Barbies, how they unexpectedly cried in the film, laughed, and danced. Others joked about needing to mentally prepare for the dark plot of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer that they were seeing directly after. For a moment, things felt right again. 


It was as if movie theaters never went on a two-year hiatus. I suddenly felt back in my childhood again, experiencing the excitement of a new movie with a group of strangers and walking out of the movie theater, feeling somehow changed. I look forward to these feelings each time I visit the theater. I’m the type of person who doesn’t mind going alone for the sake of a good movie, but I also truly value sharing the experience with a friend or family member. Movies can be a common ground for different people, an unexpected bonding experience, and viewing them in a movie theater can enhance that experience.


There is much speculation as to whether or not movie theaters will stand the test of time. Some people think streaming services will take over, corporate giants will rule over the movie-viewing experience, and theaters will be left as a fragment of the past. Others believe the experience is timeless and will find a future coexisting with the at-home movie experience.


Truly, I don’t know what will happen. No amount of research or professional predictions can ever be said. But I will never not enjoy the dark, absorbing experience of the movie theater. It is an experience that has grown my love for film and cultivated my passion for working with movies myself someday. It is a great part of who I am, and I hope that others can find themselves in these experiences and push, with great effort, to keep movie theaters alive.


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