While munching on a bucket of buttery popcorn and sipping on a sugary slushy, senior Abby Kim watched “Frozen” at the movie theater when she was 5 years old, forming a fond family memory. But now, Kim can be found watching movies on Netflix in the comfort of her home by herself. 

“I haven’t watched movies at the movie theater recently because there isn’t really a need to anymore,” said Kim. “There are so many streaming platforms or websites that provide movies at home for a similar price to a single movie.” 

According to Mark Collins, owner of Collins Theatre Systems, streaming is the main driver of the drop in theater attendance, and COVID-19 made that decline worse. 

“Attendance has been dropping for 15 or almost 20 years, so it’s not just a COVID thing,” Collins said. 

“COVID accelerated a trend that was already underway,” Collins said.

According to Ross Benes, senior analyst for TV and streaming at eMarketer, the exclusivity window of movies in theaters has shortened a great deal.

“Shortening the amount of time movies are exclusive to theaters contributes to a decline in theaters’ relevance,” Benes said.

People are used to the convenience of getting what they want when they want it and instant on-demand access, Benes said. 

“So people like to just watch a lot of movies at home, and to compensate, movie distributors have raised ticket prices,” said Benes. “But then that also discourages people from going [to theaters], unless if it’s something they really, really want to see.”

According to Collins, “The Odyssey”and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” are not going to move the needle or save the industry. 

“It would have to be consistent movies all year round,” Collins said. 

According to Benes, the reduction of theatrical revenue encourages large media companies like NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. or Paramount to lean more on TV shows or go straight to streaming movies. 

Independent filmmakers can’t rely on theaters like they used to, and if studios that produce shows and movies go straight to streaming, it’s easy to get lost in the thousands of things Netflix releases every month, Benes said.

According to Collins, in the future, there may be as few movie theaters as there are horses and buggies. 

The decline of movie theaters will change the whole concept of a communal entertainment facility, Collins said. 

According to Benes, there is a communal aspect of moviegoing that people enjoy as a good social activity beyond just seeing the movie.

“It’s that you go out and you see other people out, and you take your loved ones, or your date or whoever on an experience,” Benes said. 

According to Kim, the aspect she misses most about the movie theaters is having aplace where she can watch movies with her friends and family.

“I haven’t really spent time to think, ‘Oh, I haven’t been to the movies in a really long time,’ since I feel like I’m still watching a lot of movies just at home,” said Kim. “So I think it is a bit sad because I have a lot of memories [from] when I was younger, like going to the movie theater, but now I just don’t have that anymore.”