As times have changed so have our movie view preferences. Back in the day going to the movies was an exciting and affordable experience it was great to get friends or family together then packing in the car and going to your local movie theater. Now my generation going to the movies more often than not means going to your couch and either turning on Netflix,G2G movie streaming or whatever streaming site you may use to enjoy your favorite movie in the comfort of your home. Sarah Moran a writer for screenrant.com states “A better home viewing experience coupled with easier access to movies – put it all together and it’s plain see why our habits have shifted toward watching more movies in the comfort of our own homes.”
Another key component as why theaters are seeing a drastic decline in customers is the price of the movie going experience is has been drastically increasing to a nearly unaffordable cost. With movie tickets alone costing $8-$20 depending on if you see an imax movie or not, then add at least $20 for popcorn, drinks or candy (then times that by at least 2 cause generally people do not go to the movies alone.). Your price tag for the two hour movie is anywhere from $16-$50 and possibly even higher. Now why in the world would I pay that price when i can go to the store buy my extra butter popcorn for $3 and then pay my $8.99 a month for my netflix membership for unlimited movie watching. While when netflix first came out they did not have the best shows but now a days you will be able to stream some of the most popular movies directly from your home.
While going to a movie is fun in a survey done by Pamela Gocobachi of Entertainment Weekly found that 57% of adults surveyed would prefer to stay at home and finally a mere 21% said they would prefer to head to the theater (click on either one of the stats to see the research.). So as stats show Netflix and movie streaming is slowly taking down movie theaters but the biggest contributing factor is price and at $8.99 a month for unlimited streaming the theaters cannot even come close to competing with those numbers.
A College Students Views on The Movie Industry. 