Do you remember a time when you’d count down the days until the release of an upcoming movie, or how excited you would be when the theater lights dim and the film begins? The experience of going to movie theaters is, unfortunately, becoming something of the past. If you’ve been to the movies recently, especially for a film that was not a blockbuster or part of a long-spanning franchise, there’s a good chance it was nearly empty. But why is that?
Netflix has effectively found the biggest weakness of theaters and exploited it for enormous monetary gain. Films at theaters have a specific release window. You may only be able to see a hit film for a few months before it is taken out of the theater’s rotation. On the other hand, Netflix can show films outside their release window. Now, however, Netflix is completely cutting out the middleman and forcing movies to go directly on Netflix, skipping a theatrical release. This is a significant problem, as there’s something special about seeing a film at a theater instead of watching it alone in your own home. You lose the sense of movie magic and grandiosity, even more so if the directors of a film intended for it to be watched in a specific format in theaters, an excellent example being the film “Oppenheimer”. Christopher Nolan, the director, told moviegoers to see the film in IMAX 70mm. If “Oppenheimer” had been robbed of its theatrical release, the movie would have been a flop. Besides the idea of seeing films in a specific way, theaters are much more than places just to see movies. They have the same societal significance as a museum. When you see a film, you are viewing a work of art. The theater experience only amplifies your feelings, as you, a part of the audience, view something collectively with others, as you would when viewing a painting or sculpture at a museum. The world needs to remember that films are meant to be experienced with friends and family, not in the confines of your living room.