Here’s the original post: Pick 5 things that would make going to the theater better. I will leave it up to you to define “better”.
Well, turns out I have more than 5 things, and I’m sure there’s even more I could add but let’s go…
1. PRICING
Recently, I did the math, looking back at a peak year in Hollywood’s Golden Age, 1939. Both Gone With the Wind (a film I dislike) and The Wizard of Oz (a film I love) were released that year. The U.S. saw 80 million tickets sold per week (about 4.1B/year). The price of a ticket was $0.23. By contrast, in 2024, 800M tickets were sold the entire year (~15.4M per week). Average ticket price now is about $12 give or take (more in major markets). A 1939 ticket today would cost $5.39 accounting for inflation. We all know that’s just the tip of the 2025 cost iceberg, so I won’t go into it all. What I will say is, you slash prices for movie tickets and concessions, attendance goes up, more junk food gets bought, and customers are more inclined to enjoy mid-quality films because it’s not such an expensive night out. Let’s go with $7.50 tickets as a baseline. $15 for premium formats (IMAX and/or 3D/4D). $5 for kids 13 and under. $5 matinee pricing. Zero “convenience fees” ever. A small bag of popcorn should be $3. Imagine cutting the moviegoing cost effectively in half for consumers, and you’d stop seeing so many empty seats.
2. LIVE PRE-SHOW PERFORMERS
I know, it sounds nuts, but instead of that godawful advertising maelstrom while you take your seat, how about you stick a jazz quartet or a piano player up front, or heck, a comedy act or a live trivia game with prizes. You can still run a slide show with ads, just don’t make such a big thing about it. Entertain your audience as they enter the theater, and it becomes something special. Even better, turn one theater per week into a performance space. Make it a Friday night thing that people can look forward to. Lots of small local indie theaters already do this. So let’s bring it to the multiplex. Now suddenly, the movie theater is a cultural center, it’s got some energy, and you’re employing artists instead of just irritated floor-cleaners.
3. LIVESTREAMING SPORTS
I’m not even a sports fan, but imagine turning a big screen at one of the dine-in theaters into a high-end sports bar during big events. Sure, your tricked-out home theater is good, but it’s not that good.
4. MORE RE-RELEASES
This is increasingly a proven model for filling more seats. The combination of nostalgia + eventizing what would normally be mom or dad forcing junior to watch an old favorite at home, is winning. It’s already happening but not at scale. A Star Wars one-off is fun, but imagine it becoming the norm. There’s no reason why major chains can’t make re-releasing a much wider range of older films a part of the new business model.
5. SHORT FILMS
Remember when Pixar used to have short animated films run before the movie? Or even further back, when old-school cartoons would play before the trailers? There are thousands of old cartoons everyone can enjoy to set the mood, but what if theaters solicited new short films to showcase? Each quarter, they could put out a challenge to filmmakers, set some rules, and then pick the best ones to run (or get the audience to vote on their favorites). This could be a training ground for emerging creators to get experience and maybe even catch the eye of a producer.
6. CELL PHONE LOCKUP
Opening weekend of a big film should involve hading over your phone for safekeeping until the movie’s over. We all used to be able to survive for 90-120 minutes without a mini-computer to glance down at every 90-120 seconds. We do it at concerts, comedy shows and Broadway plays, and those often last way longer than a movie. If you can’t ditch the phone for some valid reason, or you’re just a phone freak, then come back after opening weekend.
7. LONGER RELEASE WINDOW
Everyone’s gonna say this but it’s true. Just do it. Make the theatrical window mean something, and increase scarcity before the streaming release. Make it exciting to see more than just a handful of movies.
8. MAKE LOBBIES GREAT AGAIN
Theater lobbies are cold and over-corporatized. Movies are fun, lobbies can be fun too. Or if not fun, at least majestic and interesting. I don’t have any issue with the recent news that theater chains are adding bowling alleys and other stuff to increase the entertainment options at theaters. Why is this a problem? If it gets people TO the theater, they’re going to go INTO the theater. Make it so you want to get there early to play some videogames, do a VR thing, check out a movie-themed store, get a photo of the kids with a costumed character walking around. Disnify the lobby. Make it a thing. Give people a reason to be there and they will spend time there.
You build that theater Glenn, and will want to be there!