With movie theaters back open to full capacity, and several movies soon to be released, many filmmakers and theater companies face a dilemma. The pandemic brought the annual domestic box office revenue way down from $11.3 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020. This reflected not only peoples’ inability to go to movie theaters, but also the abrupt shift from a fairly balanced relationship between the theater and streaming markets to one that heavily favored the streaming market. According to a survey from statista.com, in 2018, 15% of 2,200 respondents (18+) strongly preferred streaming over going to theaters. This is in stark contrast to the 36% of respondents that strongly preferred streaming in 2020. 

Additionally, releasing movies in theaters and on streaming platforms simultaneously enticed audiences to watch films from the comfort of their homes. This practice was further encouraged by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With steadily declining theater attendance, streaming platforms experienced a new flow of revenue. This disincentivized filmmakers from sending their movies to theaters, as they were cut out of profit. The influx of movie releases is no longer the guaranteed source of revenue for the movie theater industry that it had once been. 

The New York City cinema industry was most greatly impacted by this change. Due to NYC’s essential role in the U.S.’s film industry as a leader in film production, second only to California, the nation’s movie theater economy is greatly dependent on the success of the movie theater industry in NYC. 

A 2022 study by statista.com revealed that going to theaters in-person was more prevalent among younger age groups (18-34). 12% of the 18 to 34 year old respondents went to the movie theaters often, while 38% went to theaters sometimes. Among the older age groups, the highest percentage of movie theater attendance appeared among the 35 to 44 year olds: 9% visited theaters often and 36% visited sometimes. 

The results of a poll issued to the Riverdale Upper School student body echo those from statista. Out of 104 upper school student responses, approximately 57% have gone to the movie theaters once or twice post-pandemic. With approximately 29% of students going to the movie theaters often and 14% of students not having gone to theaters post-pandemic, the in-person movie theater attendance is consistent with that of young people in the United States, but much less than that of pre-pandemic times. This opens the debate of whether the movie theater experience is more desirable than that of the at-home movie experience. 

When asked, “Do you watch more movies by streaming or going to movie theaters,” approximately 95% of the 104 students surveyed streamed more movies than watched in theaters. Although 86% of the upper school students surveyed have been to theaters post-pandemic, 95% stream movies more often than they go to theaters. This could be attributed to the convenience of staying home rather than traveling to the theater, as well as the lower cost of watching a movie at home. However, the communal experiences of watching a movie on a big screen, possibly in 3D or with surround-sound, are what sets the theater experience apart from an at-home viewing. 

Top Gun: Maverick, a film released in 2022, was characterized by many, including prominent director Steven Spielberg, as being the movie that reinvigorated theatrical distribution. When asked if they had seen Top Gun: Maverick, 39% of students surveyed had seen the movie in theaters, which is approximately 45% of those who had been to theaters post-pandemic. This is a reflection of what many hope will be an increase in movie attendance among young people in the future. 

Although the pandemic brought about an increased inclination for many young people to stay at home to view movies, the recent incentives to return to theaters are proving to become gradually more effective. One of the instrumental factors responsible for the substantial box office numbers that Top Gun: Maverick possessed was that the movie was available only in theaters for forty-five days. In addition to this, the movie stayed in theaters for over seven months, even returning after a two-month long hiatus for a holiday season showing. This method of release is one of the many that filmmakers are utilizing in order to bring people back in front of the big screen. With New York possessing the third-most amount of theaters in the country, the relevance of influencing increased in-person movie attendance is greater than ever.