For decades (and most of our lifetimes), we have associated the movie theater with first-run movies. If you wanted to see Creed 3, Scream VI, or any of this year’s upcoming movies, you headed to your local AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, or your chain of choice to watch the film with a community of movie lovers. And while that is still the case, audiences these days are demonstrating the fact that they also want to head to the theater to enjoy concerts, sporting events, and – more than ever before – prestige television events.
The Cinema Foundation recently released its inaugural State of the Cinema Industry report, and the findings were promising for exhibitors, studios and film fans alike. The study analyzes box office trends, theater counts (both domestic and overseas), the average ticket price, the ongoing struggle with piracy, and consumer sentiment toward the theatrical going experience. And as part of its findings, The Cinema Foundation revealed that moviegoers “hope to see more diverse genres at the movie theater” in the coming months – i.e., not nonstop superhero movies – and that consumers “are willing to pay a premium price for alternate content and new experiences on the big screen.”
