By India McCarty
Over half of movie exhibition executives believe that the “traditional cinema experience” has less than 20 years as a viable business model.
“When asked how long the cinema business has left, we see a split between two camps,” Stephen Follows, an analyst and author, stated in the survey he conducted.
Follows spoke to 246 U.S.-based executives in the film industry, asking their opinions on how movie theaters have recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, flexible release windows and the business’ future.
Around 55% of exhibition executives stated that they believed the current theatergoing experience has “less than 20 years” as a viable business model.
Most U.S. Exhibition Execs Think Traditional Moviegoing Has Less Than 20 Years as ‘Viable Business Model,’ According to New Survey https://t.co/sf9quHkmAF
— Variety (@Variety) June 22, 2025
Alan Franks, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama, told ABC3340, “Certainly streaming since its conception has been eating into that, COVID was a detrimental blow, then just as things started to look like they were coming back up, you had the Hollywood strikes, so it’s just one thing after the other.”
However, Franks said that it’s clear “the theatre is still vital to their bottom line,” adding, “I think there’s still a lot of American sentiment where they value that experience and so if audiences are aware of that and want to see it continue, it means you have to continue to support that.”
Cornell Cinema Director Molly Ryan was equally optimistic, telling The Cornell Sun, “Cinemas have continuously persisted and adapted. What I think we’re seeing now is audiences craving a communal experience of being together in the cinema and having greater appreciation for the opportunity to see a work of art as it was designed to be experienced.”
Related: Are Movie Theaters On Their Way Out?
“Even though we’re in this very ultra-connected world, we still need to find ways to understand different people’s experiences,” she continued. “It’s very easy to be distracted in the world today and cinema has created a place where you can turn off the noise of the world.”
Franks and Ryan’s optimism matches some of the survey’s data — ”exhibitors were more likely to predict ‘more than 20 years’ [of viable business] compared to execs in other fields, like TV, production and sales/distribution,” per Variety.
Follows had a positive outlook, too, writing, “It could be that the ‘traditional cinema experience’ evolves and changes with the times, meaning that the people, companies and locations survive but in a different form.”
Movie theaters have experienced some major setbacks over the past few years, but many in the industry still have hope that the traditional moviegoing experience will continue on.
Read Next: Why AMC Plans to Cut Ticket Prices in Half This Summer
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