If you’ve been following the popular movie reviewers on the YouTube channel RedLetterMedia in the last few years, you’re already intimately acquainted with the concept that movie theaters across the country are dying off.
The “Half In The Bag” duo Mike and Jay have been discussing the death of movie theaters since before the pandemic, citing issues with cleanliness, the behavior of the public, and rising prices as key reasons for pivoting to home streaming. Now, the pair has examined a trio of box office flops, which leads them to believe theaters will soon entirely go the way of the dodo bird.
Specifically, Mike and Jay’s video, titled “The Death of Movie Theaters – Beyond the Black Void,” focuses on the poor financial reception of films such as Garfield, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and The Fall Guy. These films represent the first wave of Summer blockbusters for 2024 and have been heavily pushed as guaranteed hits by their respective studios. Against all odds, however, all three of these movies have flopped, causing a chain reaction that sees many news outlets speculating more theaters will be closing their doors.
Unless another big event like ‘Barbenheimer’ manages to crop up overnight, the death of movie theaters may be a foregone conclusion.
The YouTube video even begins with a montage of news clips centered on theater chains that have shuttered all over the country, proving that the death of movie theaters is more than just a consumer theory. The rise of streaming combined with the general lack of interest in major blockbusters seems to be taking its toll on even the largest theater chains, meaning smaller businesses are in trouble.
This trend isn’t unique to 2024 either, as many big-budget films flopped hard throughout 2023, cementing the concept that superhero franchises like the MCU and DCU have oversaturated their market.
Another film that managed to perform exceptionally well last year, curtailing the death of movie theaters, was the animated Super Mario Bros Movie.
With a few notable exceptions such as Barbie and Oppenheimer, 2023 was widely considered to be the year of the flop for most major studios, only exacerbated by executive interests threatening to replace writers and performers with artificial intelligence as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes raged on through most of the year. Unless another big event like ‘Barbenheimer’ manages to crop up overnight, the death of movie theaters may be a foregone conclusion.
Another film that managed to perform exceptionally well last year, curtailing the death of movie theaters, was the animated Super Mario Bros Movie. The family-friendly adventure film, based on a popular IP, had received numerous bad press in the months leading up to its release due to Chris Pratt’s flat voice acting. Despite this, The Super Mario Bros Movie managed to rake in over $1.3 billion, demonstrating that kids and families largely don’t mind hearing Star-Lord’s voice coming out of the iconic Italian plumber after all.
All hope likely isn’t lost for theaters, as Mike and Jay specify in “The Death of Movie Theaters” that audiences will still pack-in for giant films like 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Because of the film’s success, studios likely believed that Chris Pratt’s Garfield, a family-friendly adventure film based on a popular IP, would be set up for similar success. Unfortunately, the film seems to be a harbinger, as Hollywood executives constantly learn all the wrong lessons, and the film is off to a very slow start. While Garfield is not solely responsible for the death of movie theaters, it is certainly a telling example of things to come, as trends at the box office continue to show false starts.
All hope likely isn’t lost for theaters, as Mike and Jay specify in “The Death of Movie Theaters” that audiences will still pack-in for giant films like 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Still, it seems that making a night of going out to the movies will soon become less of a weekly ritual and more of a rare cultural event experienced once or twice in the year.
