Covid At The Movies: Pandemic Accelerates Declines

The Covid pandemic has changed our culture in many ways but perhaps no more so than with the traditional weekend ritual of “going to the movies.” Two WSJ reports note how the decline of movie theaters & adult flicks has accelerated. Ask the West Side Story & King Richard producers. They know.

The tale of these two new releases, the WSJ suggests, would make Eibert & Siskel roll over in their graves.

In “’West Side Story’ and the Decline of the Movie Theater,” we learn how even adult classics are becoming regular bombs at the box office, i.e., unless they include lots of superhero characters dealing with violence & gore; and, oh, a movie ain’t a movie any longer unless they have spectacular if mindless car chases through town & country. Another piece specifically calls out how “Superheroes Triumph Over Will Smith,” which notes “audiences return to theaters for superheroes, but Smith’s attempt at ‘King Richard,’ other adult-oriented films struggle” aka bomb.

Any wonder why? Even with a pandemic raging, repressed home schooled teens on date night are still going to the re-opened movie houses because that’s what teens do, while overworked adults trying to deal with inflation & other pandemic-induced headaches are not going out of their way to spend upwards of $20 to see a crappy Hollywood movie & $10 for pop ‘n popcorn in a theater filled with horny teens, especially when they can see the same crap in the comfort of their home … while the kids are at the movies.

Davd Soul