Shorter Windows Don't Help Theaters - But They Face Other Challenges as Well
Some factors both help and hurt, while others reflect a bigger changes.
The large majority of movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada share similar features. Most have stadium seating with unobstructed views of the screen, with seats usually more comfortable than in earlier times. Digital projection has reduced once common focus issues. An elevated commitment to streamlining operational issues has at busy theaters had success in making the flow of customers as painless as possible. Advance buying and seat selection, along with ticket kiosks all have helped simplify the moviegoing process.
When exhibitors meet with distributors at Cinemacon in two weeks, the failure of grosses to rebound even to the minimal levels hoped for five years after initial COVID shutdowns will certainly be the central concern. For exhibitors, the main villain is shorter windows (the period of theatrical exclusivity before films are initially available at home, whether via PVOD/VOD rentals or streaming on subscription sites).
Focusing on windows (with other platform play critical to making sure movies get made for theaters) is a logical, if complicated issue. But multiple other factors could be hindering the return to anything close to pre-COVID normality.
With input from both distributors and exhibitors, monitoring of various social media sites where moviegoers comment on the experience, and my own insights based on my own time as a film buyer for several companies and as a journalist/observer later, here are some other factors, including specific complaints heard, that may have an inhibiting impact:
Increased time commitment to seeing a film. With movies almost always over two hours themselves, add the preshow and it’s not uncommon for that to add up to closer to three hours. The traditional “dinner and a movie” night out becomes less doable for many. And this comes at a time when micro-length entertainment (Tiktok, Youtube) is elevated, or when home viewing can be done in whatever length one chooses.
The preshow, packed with ads (themselves a turnoff for many) and numerous trailers is unavoidable unless one calculates the actual starting time, is often mentioned as negative. For frequent moviegoers, seeing the same trailer multiple times makes it worse. The ads and some of the trailers (which is some cases are paid for) of course are vital revenue for theaters, so ending these would also hurt theaters. The Arclight chain, now defunct, had a policy of no ads and limited trailers, and unlike most exhibitors, didn’t survive COVID.
Audience behavior, particularly but not limited to use of phones during movies, is a drawback to many potential customers.
At the same time, any inability to stay connected with social media for a lengthy period of time is considered difficult for others.
Controlling audiences relates to a larger issue. With theaters operating on tight budgets, the personnel to monitor theaters or otherwise is less available. If fewer staff are on duty, it affects concession lines but also issues like checking presentation in theaters (volume, appropriate light in projection, aspect ratios), bathroom cleanliness inspections, and other issues.
Historically, movie tickets prices are consistant with inflation, and much below increases in other audience activities like sports, concerts, and theater. But versus opportunities to see the same movies at home usually after a short time, the cost can seem high. Add in extra charges for premium elements like IMAX, then usually around a 10% surcharge to buy advance tickets online, before adding concessions, and in some big city locations, parking costs.
In the transition from single-screen neighborhood theaters to multiplexes, exhibition became closely aligned with booming shopping malls. With a significant portion of retail now online, malls often are not the hub of activity they once were. That hurts theaters.
Hurting overall grosses, though not surviving theaters is the increased distance some people now have from a first-run theater. This is true both in some major urban areas (the south side of Chicago a key example) or mid-sized cities like Grand Island, NE and Ashtabula, OH.
As positive the growth of advanced ticket buying and seat selection is, one negative aspect is to discourage spontaneous, last minute moviegoing for fear of sold out shows or inferior seat availability. That elevates the level of commitment needed, which it turn favors films that are better known, familiar, “safe,” over impulse choices that once were normal when going to a theater.
At the end of the day, the desire to go see a movie is mostly related to what is available. Few movies appeal to all segments of the public unlike decades ago (and then, of course, there were variations). But increasingly the overlap has become rarer and audiences more segmented. It’s hard to argue that studios focusing on franchises, sequels, and remakes - among 2024’s releases. But combined with animated features (mostly sequels), that accounted for over 60% of the box office, including 14 of the top 15 titles. All of this is limiting the scope of what is seen at theaters, and it comes at a time when original offerings at home, mainly from streaming series, seem far fresher and innovative, as well as often provocative and more “must-see” than what is opening at theaters. And even more damaging, some of the top talent - directors, actors, writers, producers - increasingly are gravitating to them.
The combined impact of all of these factors, few easily remedied (and in some cases having a positive impact on theaters’ bottom lines) and some just part of present day reality are likely as or more important as the length of the window. But to deny their impact would be just as wrong as pretending shortened windows don’t have a negative one as well.
In theaters’ defense, that the largest chains have survived is a credit to their practices and decisions, many in reaction to post-COVID trends. My own limited personal experience in recent years in a smaller population center (from patronizing three independent theaters and a Regal location), mostly at weekday matinees has been other than lengthy preshows, been positive.
Identifying problems is far easier to providing solutions. Even if windows became a little longer than now, these would all still exist and then, in the absense of box office growth, seem more significant.