The Long Road Of Recovery For The Film Industry

By Grace McLoughlin

Stonehill College Journalist

When Sophia Scalisi returned to the movie theater, in the fall of 2022, after staying away for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she found that the movie theater was nearly empty.

Hit hard by the pandemic, theaters are struggling to motivate occasional movie-goers, like Scalisi, to return. The industry has fared well as die-hard movie fans fell back into their old habits of frequently attending theaters. However, a recent survey shows that most occasional movie-goers haven't returned due to a new competitor being introduced to the industry.

Scalisi bought a ticket to “Don’t Worry Darling”, a film released this past September, because her favorite performer, Harry Styles, was one of the featured roles in the film. Scalisi, a student at Stonehill College, has considered herself to be someone who occasionally takes a trip to the movie theater.

“I would much rather relax at home with my family or friends than spend over $30 at the movie theaters,” she said, “it just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Bloomberg recorded that over 600 movie theaters were permanently shut down during the pandemic due to drops in attendance and ticket sales. Convenience, subscription video on demand (SVOD), and health concerns are three of the key reasons as to why there is an increase in infrequent movie-goers, according to a recent Kagan survey and Angela Paradise, a professor at Stonehill College.

A Consumer Insights survey conducted by Kagan found that infrequent movie-goers increased by 9% from 2021 to 2022, Gen Z and millennials account for approximately 70% of frequent movie-goers from 2021 to 2022, and attendance in cinemas decreased by 31% from 2020 to 2021 while subscription video on demand use increased by 7% from 2020 to 2021.

Angela Paradise, a communications professor at Stonehill College, started her career in media studies with a fellowship at Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street, and spent a summer working with a television production company in Los Angeles. While living in Los Angeles, Paradise was later hired as a public relations specialist for a fashion designer. As she has now been a professor for the past 15 years, it is Paradise’s job to follow the recent news and trends of the different media industries.

The 9% increase in infrequent consumers from 2021 to 2022 is concerning for movie theaters as it has kept overall cinema attendance below pre-pandemic levels. However, the number of frequent movie-goers has recovered to pre-pandemic levels at 22%. This increase comes after a 7% decrease in frequent consumers from 2020 to 2021.

Paradise claimed that there is a combination of factors that explain why infrequent movie-goers are hesitant to return. These factors are that subscription video on demand platforms provide convenience and comfort to customers, inflation has caused a rise in the costs of tickets and concessions, and COVID-19 continues to cause safety concerns for the older generation.

“For a lot of people, to go to the movies is considered a luxury experience,” she said.

It has become clear that, after the pandemic, millennials and Gen Z have had a growing presence in cinemas. In 2022, millennials made up 53% of all frequent movie-goers across the nation. In the same year, Gen Z made up 19% of all infrequent cinema attendees. On the other hand, senior citizens and Gen X were only 11% and 17%, respectively, of all cinema attendees. Because the percentage of infrequent movie-goers is evenly distributed between the several generations, companies are now aware that content is not the only factor keeping infrequent movie-goers from returning to cinemas.

Paradise claims that film production studios market their newer releases to younger audiences, such as Gen Z and millennials. She pointed out that younger audiences had their movie experiences stripped away from them due to the pandemic. This lack of experience has only encouraged more people to come back to movie theaters after the pandemic.

“They couldn’t do it, so it made them want to do it more,” she said.

Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV, and many other subscription video on demand providers have had a major impact on the film, TV, and media industries. While cinema attendance experienced a 31% decrease from 2020 to 2021, subscription video on demand providers had an increase of 7% in the use of their products during those same years. Many of these companies began to release some of their films directly onto their streaming platform with little to no theatrical window. This competition between movie theaters and independent film providers is a factor into why infrequent cinema attendees are hesitant to return to movie theaters after the pandemic.

The subscription video on demand trend during the pandemic helped movie theaters realize that they would need to reinvent themselves because of this new competition, according to Paradise. One way in which theaters have done this is to reimage their film experience, such as providing alcohol and even full meals to consumers to create a luxury experience. There will always be people who want to have that movie theater experience and others who will live off the subscription video on demand platforms.

“They will have to coexist,” she said, “and I think that ultimately, they can benefit each other with the right business model.”

The film industry has been thrown many obstacles that they have had to overcome within the past couple of years. Regardless of the several statistics that depict an increase in ticket sales and cinema attendance, there is still a burning question of whether the film industry will ever be the same. However, Paradise has noticed a promising rise in ticket sales over the past year. Even though she believes that the film industry will never be as popular and successful as it was in the 1980s and 1990s, it still has the resources to be profitable.

“This past year has been pretty promising for the movie industry,” she said, “there are some signs of hope.”