The Evolution of the Movie Theater is at Hand

I2020年底, 华纳传媒做出了相当惊人的举动, 有些人会说这很有争议, decision: It would stream its blockbuster titles, 如 神奇女侠 1984, at the same time they were released theatrically. And to top it off, there would be no extra charge to current subscribers of HBO Max.

Evan Shapiro, a TV and video industry veteran, discussed in a LinkedIn发布为什么这完全说得通呢. It is all about customer lifetime value (LTV). 在本质上, there is no LTV when distributing to theaters because there is no relationship between WarnerMedia, 或任何好莱坞工作室,
而观众. 人们并不忠于狮门影业的电影. They are loyal to a franchise or maybe a director (I will go see anything Guy Ritchie or Taika Waititi create) or an actor. 但是华纳媒体作为一个流媒体服务, 又名HBO Max, has a tremendous amount to gain monetarily by cultivating its subscribers’ LTV. And the only way to do that is to give them the best content—especially content they cannot find on a rival streaming service.

This could be a death knell for movie theaters. 为什么消费者会, who are already paying for a monthly streaming subscription, pay more money to see a movie they could already see for free? 当然, 体验是不同的, but it may not be different enough to win out over watching a movie at home on a large-screen TV. So, will people stop going to the movies altogether? 电影院会消亡吗?? 这些都是复杂的问题. During the pandemic, theaters have suffered heavily. It’s unfortunate, but theater traffic was already declining. The pandemic might just be the final nail in the coffin. The result is that a few theaters and theater chains have called it quits.

但剧院的体验是独一无二的. I do not believe every movie needs to be seen on the big screen, but many are best experienced with heart-pounding Dolby Atmos sound and a bigger-than-life image. If that’s the case, then theaters need to reinvent themselves. Rather than serving as the point of entry for a new movie release, 也许他们需要互相称赞. 想想喜满客连锁电影吧. It began a program in several states after they reopened from lockdown to let patrons rent out a theater to watch a movie. 那是一个私人守望会. In many cases, these movies were older releases capitalizing on viewer nostalgia for, say, 早餐俱乐部. 费用是象征性的——只要99美元. So, if you grabbed a bunch of friends, maybe the movie would cost everybody $10 or less. 除了, the experience would allow for easy social distancing as everyone could pick seats well apart from each other. Cinemark probably quickly realized that this was not a gimmick and started offering first-run movies, albeit from a limited catalog released during the pandemic, 只要多花50美元. Having participated a couple of times, I jumped on the chance to get a private theater for 神奇女侠1984.

It is easy to get caught up in how technology, 比如流媒体视频, 从其他类型的技术进化而来, 比如广播电视. But what we often miss is how evolutionary changes like streaming impact ancillary markets and industries. 这正是电影院的情况. 他们需要重塑自我, to figure out where they fit into this new viewing behavior in which consumers can watch whatever they want, 无论他们想去哪里, and from whatever device they happen to be close to. There will always be a place for different experiences with the same content, 比如虚拟现实. 电影院也不例外. 但是为了保持相关性, they will have to think well beyond just offering alcoholic beverages and dinner fare.