By Owen Carson | Broadcast Reporter
Hollywood is a landscape that is constantly changing. New A-list actors come in, others go out. Production companies change what they want to focus on and create. Even the way movies are filmed and created is changing. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that movies come out in movie theaters. Well, until now.
Movie theaters were first created in 1896 as a way for people to enjoy films together. Of course, at that time, silent films were the only movies, but the idea of a theater not intended for a live play but a pre-filmed piece of media got the ball rolling into how we have come to know movie theaters.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, and movie theaters have evolved. Theaters with adjustable chairs and real meals made upon order, private cinema experiences and IMAX theaters with bigger screens and higher sound quality helped create the theater space known by many today.
Big blockbuster movies soared in earnings largely due to the experience of seeing a movie with other fans in the same theater on opening weekend. The best example of this experience was “Avengers: Endgame,” which came out in 2019 and made $2.7 billion worldwide over its theatrical run. Marvel fans rushed to the theaters to see opening weekend with friends and other fans.
Then streaming services were introduced. Exactly one month after “Avengers: Endgame” finished its theatrical run, Disney+ launched. The impact this service would have on movie theaters was not felt until COVID-19.
COVID-19 completely changed how companies thought about releasing movies in theaters. Why split costs with movie distributors and theater companies when you can drive customers to your streaming service and release it directly there?
One example is when Disney released “Black Widow” on Disney+ instead of pushing a theatrical release. Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, eventually sued Disney for breach of contract because she lost money due to the movie’s lack of theatrical releases.
Theaters never really fully recovered after COVID-19. Arguably, this was due to big production companies never really trying to help the theaters recover. Streaming services became more common, and now almost every single major company has its own streaming service or one where most of its media goes.
The companies that control the Hollywood landscape have, unfortunately, pushed for an end to theaters. In April 2025, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos told Variety that making movies “for movie theaters, for the communal experience” is “an outmoded idea. … What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you.”
Well, I would argue that experience is the opposite of what consumers want. “Top Gun: Maverick” delayed its initial 2020 release date to 2022 and grossed almost $1.5 billion. Christopher Nolan is set to release his new movie, “The Odyssey,” this summer, and within minutes, tickets for the IMAX 70mm showings sold out.
Fans don’t care as much about watching movies at home; they want good movies with good directing and good acting. Movie theaters being on the decline is not a consumer problem — it’s a creating problem.
The solution? Make good movies that people want to see, and then observe as movie theater attendance grows and box office numbers soar.
