Cinema Isn't Dying (Or: Let's All Go to the Movies!)

It's become a common refrain, to complain about how the moviegoing experience is on life support, but maybe the problem is...you

I live in semi-regional New South Wales, just outside Sydney in Australia’s Blue Mountains. Nature is the number one reason to live here, but there’s another almost as important to me — a microcinema called Mount Vic Flicks. Every week, I buy a ticket to see at least one film, sometimes two. And in any given month, at least half of these blow my mind. Ever since I moved here, as Covid lockdowns ended at the movie theater once again became a regular part of my life, I’ve found this to only increasingly be the case. Looking forward at titles being released over the next six months, I’m gobsmacked by how many of them I’m excited to spend my money on. Sometimes, they seem to be coming at me so quickly — and with such quirky, creative variety — that it almost feels like…gasp…the ’90s again. This brings me to my point, I suppose:

Why the hell are you falling for the line that cinema is on life support or even dead?

My local cinema. Source: Author

I’ve heard this claim here on Substack on many occasions. I’ve heard it from countless friends in Hollywood, who make it sound as if going to the movies will never be more than the loud, obnoxious affair it’s become at the multiplex. Social media has written obituary after obituary, blaming Kevin Feige, or Kathleen Kennedy, or Black people, or women, or wokeness, or — you get it.

But I think what people are really complaining about is the death of what we typically consider Hollywood films. Not that the industry will stop producing them, to be clear. But what they do make will almost certainly remain these bloated, unnecessary attempts to bleed dry every last piece of IP in the world. Going forward, if you do go to the multiplex to see something on the big screen, it will probably forever more be some iteration of Avengers League 7: Superman V. Captain Marvel - The Multiversal Saga Chapter 814 and, tragically, you’ll have to take out a small loan to do so if you bring your whole family with you.

There’s good news, though. Cinema is much bigger than what major corporations are trying to cram down your eyeholes. So much bigger. But the problem for many is that they have to go looking for it. You have to go to your local “arthouse” cinema. You have to go to your microcinema. You have to seek it out on streaming rather than lazily click on the #1 film on Netflix this week so no effort is required.

Because this, I’ve come to worry, is the real problem. After the low point of Covid passed and we began to return to something like normal society, many of us just got…lazy. We’d become so accustomed to not getting off our couches, we decided there was nothing else for us out there. Maybe that made us feel better about staying home. But in doing so, we’ve cut ourselves off from one of the most important communal experiences in modern times — if not the most important.

This information, from a Forbes article, emphasizes this point:

According to the June/July issue of Sound and Vision magazine, the sale of 85-inch televisions has increased 1200% in the last year. Samsung is currently selling 98-inch televisions at Sam’s Club and CostCo. The Chinese electronics company TCL (which stands for Telephone Communication Limited) is selling a 98-inch television at Best Buy for $ 2500.00 (which can often be financed for twelve to twenty-four months for those who don’t want to stroke such a sizable check). The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featured many televisions with screens over 100 inches that are shipping now.

It’s important to note that there has been a significant rebound in movie theater attendance post-2020. But one country, one of the biggest drivers of the art form, has been less willing to participate. Why is it that Americans aren’t going back to the movies like other countries’ residents?

This chart shows the frequency various countries, including the States, visited a movie theater last year. Again, Americans lag far behind these other countries with significant film traditions.

So, why does this matter so much to me?

In a multicultural world where diversity increasingly defines our lives when we walk out our doors, in a world where politicians and the media want nothing more than to divide us, it’s more important than ever to have a place where people from different backgrounds — race, religion, economic conditions, politics — can meet and, together, share a common experience. Sports can do that, but sports are inherently gladiatorial and, thus, so are their fandoms. Inside the Church of Cinema, once the lights dim, we are all one. We gasp together, we cry together, we laugh together. And we’re asked to empathize with people onscreen who aren’t like us, but who are always just like us. Here’s something filmmaker Martin Scorsese said on this subject back in 1993, which I recently shared in its entirety here: “When the world is fragmenting into groups of intolerance, ignorance and hatred, film is a powerful tool to knowledge and understanding.”

Taking this a step further, when you walk out of that theater, you know you’ve shared something with audiences around the world. You now have something in common in a world where that can feel so rare.

In short: stop saying cinema is dying or dead, especially if you live in the U.S.. Get in your car or on a bus, and get yourself to the nearest theater screening a handful of films that aren’t indistinguishable from everything found at the multiplex. Buy a ticket. They’re cheaper in the middle of the day. Then, sit back and enjoy being part of a tradition that predates your great-grandparents. If you listen carefully, you might even hear them in the theater with you.

If I make it sound like a sacred experience, it’s because I believe it is.

I’m going to close by sharing with you a raft of trailers for recent and upcoming films I’ve either seen or I’m excited to see. They represent every kind of film, too, every kind except mainstream Hollywood. I’m not anti-Hollywood, to be clear. I still work there. I love many of the films still getting made. But I cannot survive off of a handful of films a month, almost all of which are prequels, sequels, spin-offs, reboots, or requels. Luckily, as I’ve tried to make clear, there are plenty of other options out there. So, not to sound too cheesy, even though I know I’m about to — c’mon, let’s all go to the movies!

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