I miss the movies

One of my earliest memories is going to the movies. For my brother’s 14th birthday, my family and I went to see Marvel Studios’ new The Avengers. Sitting in the oversized recliners of my local theater, five-year-old me fell in love with the characters I saw on the screen.

From that point on, I became a fan of all things Marvel, whether it was their television shows, games, or merchandise. But more important than anything else was their movies. No matter the occasion, I made time to see the next big Marvel movie. These films were a steady presence in my life, a guaranteed way to envelop myself in a plot and escape into a new world for a few hours. Over the years, I even branched out into other series, often due to the trailers before whatever superhero flick I was waiting for. I owe a lot of my current love of nerd culture to Marvel and, more importantly, the power of the movie theater.

There’s just something magical about watching a movie in the theater. Before you even get to your auditorium, the lobby feels different from the mall or plaza you entered from. The smell of popcorn and the over-the-top carpet patterns immediately let you know where you are. As you enter your auditorium, the ambiance begins setting in. With the silver screen enveloping your peripherals and the surround sound booming around you, it truly does feel like you are in the world of the film.

For the duration of the film, you forget about your worries or anything that's bogging you down; there’s no more built-up work, interpersonal problems, or anything at all to worry about. It’s just you and a story. Afterward, you can return to whatever obligations you have, but for a short time, you can exist without worry and just enjoy a story. In my hectic life, the escape the movies provided was something I always looked forward to.

But recently, I haven’t found myself looking forward to going to the movies. Of course, that can in part be explained by the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most theaters needing to shut down for several months. But it has been years since restrictions have been lifted, and movie theaters are now fully operational. Yet, the spark seems to be gone for the experience of going to the movies. As a Marvel fan, I remember the cultural events that were the releases of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Hordes of people, many of whom were not even Marvel fans, flocked to watch these movies. Conversely, recent Marvel releases seem to garner little foot traffic and nowhere near the mass appeal of previous titles. I even had to look up which movies had come out this past year, an action that would be a sin to younger me.

Am I just growing up and having nostalgia for this staple from my childhood that no longer brings me the same joy? Or has the movie-going experience fundamentally changed? I believe the latter. There are several key differences to watching a movie in the theater today compared to a decade ago, all of which add up to a worsening experience.

The main culprit is the rise of direct-to-streaming releases. The pandemic represented a paradigm shift for the film industry, as no one could attend movie showings in theatres. Studios began releasing their movies on streaming services, like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. As restrictions were lifted, studios continued to release their streaming services, as they had already drawn in many customers, including myself, who were paying for expensive subscriptions to stay updated.

This format, while convenient during a time when you couldn’t go out, is fundamentally worse than going to the theater. All of the ambiance of a movie theater, the smells and sounds, no longer exist when you are watching on your laptop or phone at home. You no longer exit your life for some time when you're in your living room, or have some work open in another tab. Watching a movie on a streaming service cannot compare to going to the theater. But when the two options are put in front of me, I often choose to just stay at home for convenience’s sake. Streaming services are so easy compared to driving to the theater and spending money on a ticket. That ease, however, brings down the experience. I almost wish we lived in a world where these services didn’t exist, so I would be forced to go to the theaters and fully experience every movie I watch.

On top of the format of the movie, movies themselves have changed. Previously, going to watch a movie felt like entering the unknown. You didn’t know what to expect, who you’ll meet, what will happen, or how you’ll feel. But recent movies don’t feel as unexpected. They don’t elicit the same curiosity as movies in the past did, and that feeling is rooted in facts. For the 2024 Worldwide Box Office, nine of the top ten highest-grossing movies of the year were sequels, with the only non-sequel being Wicked, an adaptation of the Broadway play (meaning more familiar storylines and characters) which will also be receiving a sequel later this year.

While sequels are good, they only succeed in moderation. With this many sequels, moviegoers are watching the same characters do the same things as previous installments. There’s no more mystery in what may happen as it’s been seen before. To go back to Marvel, I find it hard to be interested in what Ant-Man is up to the third time around. This sentiment is shared by others, as box office numbers fail to reach the same highs as previous years.

While these problems may lower the popularity of going to the movies for society as a whole, they don’t have to bring it down for individuals. If you’re like me and miss the feeling of going to the movies, there’s one simple solution: go to the movies. Maybe you get a group of friends, some family, or, honestly, just yourself and go see something on the silver screen. It could be for something you’ve been looking forward to or something you’ve never thought about seeing.

The magic of a movie needs to be experienced in the theater. Next time you’re looking to experience a new world or just need a break from your current one, take a trip to the theater. It may just remind you how special going to the movies really is.