Returning to a Theatre Near You
There have been several activities that have been halted due to the unwavering growth of the pandemic. Everyone can admit that they miss doing their favorite things that had big crowds (like sports games, festivals, and concerts). However, one of the biggest and most depressing halts to the public were the closing of movie theatres.
With the start of the nationwide lockdown in the midst of March 2020, many businesses were forced to close down for the time being. Moreover, businesses then tended to several people in tighter spaces (like restaurants and theatres) had to shut down temporarily, and some even went out of business within the first month of the dreaded lockdown.
While some theatres closed down immediately, like Regal Cinemas, some tried to stay afloat, like AMC Theatres. According to Jake Coyle of Fortune.com, “AMC said it would limit audiences to less than 50 people for every screening to facilitate social distancing.” However, this did not last long. As of March 17th, AMC announced that they would be closing all locations for a six to twelve-week gap.
As we can see from above, theatres were booming without fear of the future. Box office sales were through the roof with January’s top five releases making over $360 million, while February’s top five made almost $400 million. They didn’t know it yet, but this would be the box office’s last big hit for a long time, or even forever.
As the international shutdown took place on March 20th, films that were scheduled to release in late March and April were suddenly thrown for a loop. Highly anticipated movies like Trolls: World Tour and Vivarium were under serious stress of not making the bill they put so much money into. There was no telling when theatre doors would open back up.
Millions of movie-goers alike were devastated to find out that their favorite public activity was now gone. Here’s the important question: are our beloved theatres going out for good, and are we ever going to see new films?
That’s where the World Wide Web steps in. Without fear of not breaking even, many movie and production studios went straight to the computer. They realized that a pandemic wasn’t the end for their new releases. Instead of theatres, companies started investing in streaming services.
Streaming services (like Netflix, Hulu, etc.) are simply online television. You can always find long lost TV shows, or even the most popular movies only months after the initial release. Since everyone had to stay inside for a while, these apps received a lot more attention. Mansoor Iqbal of BusinessofApps shows that Netflix had broken over 200 million subscriptions by the end of 2020, still amid the pandemic.
Since these streaming apps have become more popular, movie studios and production companies have put their money into releasing their own versions. For example, The Walt Disney Company released their own app, Disney+, in November of 2019. Since the pandemic, they have been keen on putting their new movies on the app for premium access, in which you have to pay extra to watch the movie, even if you already have a subscription. Instead of being able to release their films in theatres, Disney booted films such as Raya and the Last Dragon, Soul, Mulan, and Artemis Fowl straight to the app.
Not only Disney, but several other companies have started ditching the theatre scene and going straight to the web. HBO released their own app, HBO Max, in late May of 2020. HBO Max has had the opportunity to host new releases, such as Wonder Woman 1982 and the newest installment of Mortal Kombat. Even NBC released their new app Peacock to compete with the new online scene. It won’t be long until more studios try to rent out their movies to apps or even make their own. Thankfully, the good news is that movie lovers no longer have to worry about missing their favorite films.
Some theatres, unfortunately, will never see the light of day again. Maureen Lenker of Entertainment Weekly explained that Pacific Theatres of California “…will not be reopening due to the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Although Pacific Theatres, parent to ArcLight Cinemas, is only present in California, it still happens to affect hearts around the country.
Although some theatres have had it rough, there were some good things that happened for theatres. While AMC was showing signs of major bankruptcy, they decided to trade out more of its stock in hopes of finding some temporary finances. Those part of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit gave some attention to the theatre chain, and saw it as a chance to make big. Around the final week of January 2021, AMC stock flipped to over 300% its initial value, with one stock being about twenty dollars. Dan Jackson of Thrillist announced that AMC “…raised almost $1 billion to create a ‘financial runway’ that would provide protection ‘deep into 2021.’ Even though some theatres have had bad luck, it is good to see some are making a good effort to keep us entertained.
Finally, after almost five months of closing, theatres were finally given permission to re-open in August 2020. However, they only allowed about 25% the normal capacity in the theatre at once, less than about 50 per screen to accommodate social distancing. Looking back at the box office, we can see that theatres took an obviously huge decline since the end of March. Less than half of all planned theatre releases actually saw the big screen. Movies like Tenet hadn’t hit ticket sales like it would have before the pandemic, but it still gave hope that theatres will be back up very soon.
Looking to the present, we can see that theatres are slowly coming back into full fruition. Some states with larger populations are still limited to under 30% capacity, while most states are about 50–80% capacity, and few states have no limitations (with results from Ben Dalton of ScreenDaily). As we near summer, there are a lot of planned movies that will be released within the next few months for everyone to sit down and enjoy together.
While theatres we expected to end, it’s as though we were given a miracle. No one had realized how much movie theatres actually meant to the world. With the pandemic also nearing its end, we can say that theatres have won the battle. We can also thank the pandemic for bringing movies straight to our homes while we wait for everything to turn back into normal. Once again, we can finally enjoy movies the way we’re supposed to.
Be sure to check out The Fourth Wall Podcast, where I talk a little bit about my first experience back in theatres!
