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Closing Curtain: The Long Death of the Movie Theater
If there is something that I have loved doing all my life, it is going to a movie theater to take in a new movie. There is something very peaceful about sitting in a theater and experiencing a movie without any interruptions. Especially in this hyper-connected world, there is a poetic feeling of disconnecting for a couple of hours while eating some overpriced junk food from the concession stand.
The movie theater experience is a slice of Americana that has somehow lived through the advent of the digital age. But it seems that this remnant of American society may soon be something of the past. And while many have blamed the Coronavirus pandemic for this development, the truth may be a bit more complicated than that.
A Collapse in the Making
The easy explanation for the current struggles of the movie industry is to blame widespread shutdowns of theaters due to lockdown and stay at home orders throughout the country. But upon further inspection, this is an industry that was already heading down a path of obsolescence that has been accelerated by the pandemic.
