Beginning with a global shut down, followed by multiple entertainment production strikes, many people thought that movie theaters wouldn’t survive but most have been able to keep business flowing and movie goers engaged.

In fact, it’s predicted that the U.S. Movie Market will “grow at a CAGR of 7.62% from 2024-2030”, valuing 26.9 billion dollars.

Last year (2023) the Valley’s own Harkins Theatres had a revenue of $550 million and “ticket sales for large premium formats like IMAX accounted for over 14% of all box office ticket sales”.

In the past couple years, streaming services, like HBO Max, have started expanding to include highly anticipated new films that can be viewed on or close to the premiere date, in the comfort of one’s home instead of the theater. And films in the theatre have shorter times shown and are released to be streamed or purchased sooner.

Nino Daniel, a verified movie reviewer, who promotes social media content centered around movies and works in partnership with Harkins as their Social Media Content Curator said streaming services have also started to make “good quality films” adding more competition for the theaters, but as long as partnerships with studios and exclusivity clauses exist, theaters will still be around.

All this in mind, “less people are going to the movies — but they are paying more”.

Even though, ticket & concession prices have gone up, movie theater chains like Harkins are coming up with creative solutions like hosting premiers, events for blockbusters like Wonka and Barbie—where the pricing included admission to the film, collectible items, themed food and beverages and interactive experiences with photo ops, all positives according to Daniel and ways to make the experience memorable and worth the money.

“Theaters have also prioritized providing a wide variety of concessions that include hot food as well as alcohol, keeping up to date with technology for best viewing experience.”

“If you go to the movies on the weekend, it’s still filled with groups of people laughing, screaming and bonding together to make memories,” Daniel said. “There is nothing like going to the movies.”

Daniel told Northeast Valley News, ‘Being in the theater adds to the movie magic, where you can totally be invested in the movie and create personal connections.”

“It’s FUN and it’ll never stop being fun, going to the movies won’t be obsolete for at least 100 years, so not anytime soon.”