One afternoon, I sat down at a matinee screening of Furiosa, the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road. Thirty minutes into the film, I realised that there were fewer people seated than normal. For me, this seems odd. Trailers were playing for Furiosa every time I went to the cinema. There was some anticipation, following the success of Fury Road and its popular status as one of the greatest action movies of all time. Why weren’t a lot of people more excited about this film? Or for that matter, anything else that came out this year.  

The summer had begun with most big-budget movies turning out to be flops. The Memorial Day weekend, usually a box-office bonanza, had seen its worst performance of openers in decades. Between films like The Fall Guy, Garfield and If bombing to several movie chains shutting down, this has not been a good time for the movie theatre. In response, many publications have been quick to lament the struggle of these venues

This decade began with the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a lot of delays and production shutdowns, leaving everyone to desert the movie theatre for streaming services. There’s no doubt that, in spite of commercial hits like Top Gun Maverick and Spider-Man: No Way Home appearing here and there, this contributed to their decline. While the data surrounding the cleanliness of movie theatres due to COVID is questionable, I wouldn’t blame moviegoers for avoiding these places, if the service is quite poor. But there is another looming challenge which is that movie theatres have lost their role as a social and communal setting.

As a communal experience, moviegoing usually involved couples, families or friends attending

In 2017, a journal article published in the Participations Journal of Audience & Reception Studies found that movie theatres provide a social experience through space over place, often relying on eventfulness, rather than the movie theatre itself. This measure carries a lot of weight, because there are certain factors, from the choice that moviegoers make to the movies themselves, that incentivise them to visit these venues. 

As a communal experience, moviegoing usually involved couples, families or friends attending. Cinemas have to rely on these kinds of people attending their screenings. The success of last year’s romantic comedy Anyone But You, have shown how the genre has once been a major draw at these theatres, which brought out a specific kind of communal experience of safe date movies. Movie theatres, nowadays, tend to attract people like myself — people who are quite committed to the state of cinema — instead of the broader four quadrants. We care about the place, rather than the space. 

Cost is an important factor and movie tickets are more expensive, thanks to inflation. This is why streaming is still king, even though some services have been financially struggling, with Netflix having been losing its stock in recent years. A monthly subscription remains cheaper than a concession student ticket. It has a wide range of movies and TV shows, and if you really need something to cool down, then streaming would be more convenient. And for all of the complaints about these services utilising the recommendation algorithm, that aspect is effective in helping you to know what you would like to watch. 

However, algorithms, in its essence, are artificially curated, which is where repertory screenings come in and contribute to the social setting. Multiplexes and smaller theatres have often used programming of cult classics and beloved masterpieces to bring more people in and continue to do so. I was at a 20th anniversary screening for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. On streaming, you can only find it on Disney+ since the film is a 20th Century Studios property, now under the Disney umbrella. But the screening does not only enhance the individual experience, it also has enabled theatres to build a passionate following who will keep coming back, because of their shared love of movies.

From my experience, the screening for Furiosa was half empty, even though the film is quite spectacular on its own merit. You can certainly argue that the movies themselves have overestimated their essential appeal and require more effective marketing to make moviegoers aware of their releases. The Fall Guy placed much of its bets on Ryan Gosling being one of the biggest actors in Hollywood, despite not proving that he can be a box office draw. Furiosa relies on pre-existing IP, and the film presumes that the audience would have seen Fury Road to understand the worldbuilding. There was little publicity, because there wasn’t a lot of demand for a prequel that follows-up a sequel that’s nine years old. 

The Barbenheimer weekend sets a precedent for attending a movie as a social phenomenon. When it happened, it wasn’t just that all the screenings were full. Leading up to the weekend, there are friendly jokes on the internet, where one goes to see Barbie and then Oppenheimer, by dressing in pink and then in black. At the Barbie screenings, there were many women of all shapes and sizes who dressed themselves in pink and took selfies near theatre doors. While it was expected to be a bona-fide hit, it overperformed thanks to the phenomenon, which originated as an Internet joke. Oppenheimer made less than a billion dollars at the box office, partly due to the fact that a Christopher Nolan film could be a surefire draw, but the weekend obliging people to watch it as a double feature, played a significant part to its success. 

While the state of the box office has been very unpredictable, there are a few exceptions that should leave some hope. Bad Boys: Ride or Die had a decent opening, in spite of its lead star now being notorious for slapping someone for joking about his marriage problems. Dune Part Two earned $700 million at the box office and is currently the highest grossing film of the year, but by a large margin. You can certainly argue that any aspect could have made any of its success inevitable — enduring star power, cinematic ambition — but what should be the norm for all other movies has been met on shaky ground. I often go to the movies alone, but being at these screenings reveal that, for a couple of hours, you aren’t. And that’s the best feeling, which can only be thwarted if no one’s watching.