What Is The Movie Industry's Future?
As the COVID-19 Pandemic continues to affect more and more people, the future of the movie industry increases in uncertainty. The "big question" is not whether movies will continue to be produced, but rather will films be distributed to an online platform instead of movies theaters.
Before the COVID-19 Pandemic closed all non-essential businesses, I worked at my local AMC Theaters. I wanted to get a closer look at all aspects of the distribution of films. One of the most notable matters at AMC Theaters was selling concessions: popcorn, beverages, ice cream, etc. The managers put a consistent emphasis on selling concessions. At first I thought that offering concessions was just an additional way of boosting revenue besides the main focus of selling movie tickets. This aspect of my job made me curious of why we pushed concessions so much more than the sale of movie tickets. I researched this topic on the internet and found that, although accurate but not exact, AMC Theaters makes 85% of its revenue from the sale of concessions. I started to put the "dots together". "Oh so that's why you have to walk past the concession stand to get to your movie... Oh so that's why every concession is marked up in price." Also, you might be asking me the question "but don't you have to buy a movie ticket to purchase concessions?" Well... no! If you ask an AMC employee that you don't want to see a movie but just want to feed your craving for popcorn, you will be allowed to do so. At this point in my job, I realized that AMC Theaters was more than a restaurant rather than a movie theater.
Knowing this, if AMC Theaters re-opens after the pandemic, people will not only not want sit next to strangers in a confined space, but would probably re-think going into a concessions line to purchase "movie theater food". In addition to this, from personal experience, AMC employees only have 5-10 minutes to clean a movie theater between films. Although it is unclear how all people will act after the COVID-19 Pandemic, most people who have common sense should take these things into consideration. One thing I know is that I will not be returning to the theater.
Don't worry though, this is not the end of movies!! I believe that streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney +, etc will start to act as movie theaters and have new provided services such as "Premieres" and "Screenings".
Sorry that this might have seemed like a lot of different ideas jumbled into one column. I needed to talk about this topic though because it hits me, an avid film lover and AMC employee, personally.
-Seth Greenberg
