We’ve all seen them. The articles proclaiming that cinema is dying. No one is going to the movies anymore, everyone is staying home and binge watching Disney+, Netflix, Amazon, HBO Max, Peacock, and the other 641 streaming channels. But is cinema really dying? Really? Granted, 2019 was not a banner year for North American movie-going, very few dispute that fact. Attendance fell 8%, continuing a decade-long trend. Stock prices for the three major North American circuits also fell. Now most in the industry are looking at another possible down year in 2020, perhaps by as much as 5-6% from a box office standpoint.
Not exactly the stuff of delirious and unrestrained optimism, is it? However if you dig deeper into the numbers and trends you’ll see there is some hope for the movie business in its fight to ward off the battalion of doomsayers.
Source: No, Cinema Isn’t Dying: 7 Reasons To Be Optimistic (Yes, Optimistic!) About Hollywood In 2020